
TABLET IN SEOUL 



KOREA 



BY 



ANGUS HAMILTON 



WITH A NEWLY PREPARED MAP 
AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS 



■.■■■,'.. 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

153-157 FIFTH AVENUE 
1904 



i 



A^ 



V^V^ 



■• a e « • • o « 

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All rights reserved 



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A3 



TO 
MY MOTHER 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION 

The Position of Russia in Manchuria — Comparative Estimate of Naval 
and Military Resources of Russia, Japan, and Korea Pp. xvii-xlii 

CHAPTER I 

Off the coast — Lack of survey intelligence — Island flora — Forgotten 
voyagers — Superstitions and beliefs — Outline of history Pp. 1-12 

CHAPTER II 

Physical peculiarities — - Direction of advancement — Indications of 
reform and prosperity — Chemulpo — Population — Settlement — 
Trade Pp. 13-23 

CHAPTER III 

Move to the capital — A city of peace — Results of foreign influence — In 
the beginning — Education — Shops — Costume — Origin — Posts and 
telegraphs — Methods of cleanliness .... Pp. 24-42 

CHAPTER IV 

The heart of the capital — Domestic economy — Female slavery — 
Standards of morality — A dress rehearsal . . Pp. 43-58 

CHAPTER V 

The Court of Korea — The Emperor and his Chancellor — The Empress 
and some Palace factions Pp. 59-69 



x CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VI 

The passing of the Emperor — An Imperial pageant . . Pp. 70-80 

CHAPTER VII 

Sketch of Mr. McLeavy Brown — The Question of the Customs — The 
suggested Loan Pp. 81-93 

CHAPTER VIII 

Foreign action in Korea — Exhausted Exchequer — Taxes — Budgets — 
Debased currency — The Dai Ichi Ginko — Dishonest officials 

Pp. 94-107 
CHAPTER IX 

Education — Arts and graces — Penal code — Marriage and divorce — 
The rights of concubines — Position of children — Government 

Pp. 108-116 
CHAPTER X 

Farmers — Farming and farm animals — Domestic industries — Products 
—Quality and character of food-stuffs . . . Pp. 1 17-127 

CHAPTER XI 

Japan in Korea — Historical associations — In Old Fusan — Political and 
economic interests — Abuse of paramountcy . . Pp. 128-137 

CHAPTER XII 

The commercial prospects of Korea — Openings to trade — Requirements 
of markets — Lack of British enterprise . . . Pp. 138-147 

CHAPTER XIII 

British, American, Japanese, French, German, and Belgian interests — 
Railways and mining fictions — Tabled counterfeited Imports 

Pp. 148-169 
CHAPTER XIV 

Some account of the treaty ports; Won-san, Fusan, Mok-po— Character 
of export and import trade — Local industries . . Pp 170-181 

CHAPTER XV 

Treaty ports (continued) — Wi-ju — Syon-chyon-po — Chin-am-po— Pyong- 
yang — Kun-san — Syong-chin ..... Pp. 182-191 



CONTENTS xi 



CHAPTER XVI 

Russian interests — Russia and Japan — Ma-san-po — Ching-kai-wan — 
Yong-an-po Pp. 192-206 



CHAPTER XVII 

By the wayside — A journey inland to Tong-ko-kai — Inland beauties 

Pp. 207-215 

CHAPTER XVIII 

The German mines — Mineralogy and methods of mining — A bear hunt 
— With gun and rifle Pp. 216-225 



CHAPTER XIX 

The monks and monasteries of the Diamond Mountains — The Temple 
of Eternal Rest — The Temple of the Tree of Buddha — Buddhism 

Pp. 226-240 

CHAPTER XX 

The abomination of desolation — Across Korea — The east coast — Fishing 
and filth Pp. 241-252 



CHAPTER XXI 

Drought — Starvation — Inland disturbances — Rainfall and disease 

Pp. 253-260 

CHAPTER XXII 

The missionary question — Ethics of Christianity — Cant and commerce 
— The necessity for restraint Pp. 261-269 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Inland journeying — Ponies, servants, interpreters, food and accommo- 
dation — What to take and how to take it — Up the Han River, frolic 
and leisure . . Pp. 270-283 

CHAPTER XXIV 

Kang-wha, brief history of the island — A monastic retreat, an ideal rest 
— Nocturnal visitors — Midnight masses— Return to the capital — 
Preparations for a great journey — Riots and confusion Pp. 284-300 



xii CONTENTS 

APPENDIX I 
Schedule of train service ........ P. 301 

APPENDIX II 

Return of all shipping entered at the open ports of Korea during the 
year 1902 Pp. 302-304 

APPENDIX III 

Return of principal articles of export to foreign countries from the 
open ports of Korea during the years 1901-1902 . . P. 305 

APPENDIX IV 

Return of principal articles of imports to foreign countries during the 
years 1901-1902 ...... \\ • • P. 306 

APPENDIX V 
Coast trade between treaty-ports in native produce (net) . P. 307 

APPENDIX VI 
Customs revenue P. 307 

APPENDIX VII 
Gold export to foreign countries P. 30S 

APPENDIX VIII 
Table of minerals P. 309 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Ceiling, Imperial Palace, Seoul . 










Cover 


Tablet in Seoul ..... 






Frontispiece 

PAGE 


Devil Post outside Seoul 








I 


Guardian of a grave .... 










9 


Independence Arch .... 










ii 


Pagoda at Seoul .... 










12 


A moment of leisure .... 










13 


At the Wells ..... 










17 


Chemulpo ...... 










21 


Pavilion on' the wall of the Capital . 










23 


Hen-seller ...... 










24 


Not one whit Europeanised 










35 


A side alley ..... 










35 


Native dress ..... 










37 


They wear the Chang-ot . 










38 


A study in hats ..... 










39 


Means of locomotion 










42 


A Sang-no 










43 


White-coated, white-socked population 










45 


She may visit her friends 










47 


A middle-class family 










49 


In winter costume . . . . . 










5i 


A palace concubine .... 










53 


Dancing women of the Court 










55 



xiv ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Boys 58 

His Imperial Highness, Prince Yi-Cha-Sun ..... 59 

His Imperial Majesty the Emperor ....... 60 

The Hall of Audience, Seoul ........ 64 

Their Imperial Highnesses the Crown Prince and Princess . . 67 
A minor Royalty .......... 69 

Within the Palace grounds, Seoul 72 

Imperial Throne, Seoul 74 

Imperial Tablet-House, Seoul ....... -77 

An Imperial pavilion, Seoul ........ 79 

Mr. J. McLeavy Brown, C.M.G., LL.D 82 

British Legation, Seoul . . 88 

The Imperial Library, Seoul . . . . . . . -94 

A Seoul gate ........... 107 

Justice is not tempered with mercy . . . . . . ' . 113 

Children of the lower class . . . . . . . . 115 

The Korean and his bull . . . . . . . . .119 

A spade furnished with ropes . . . . . . . .121 

Pounding grain ........... 122 

Carrying produce to market 123 

Japanese Cavalry . . . . . . . . . .128 

The Guard of the Japanese Legation, Seoul 131 

H.M.S. Astrea ' 137 

Brick laying extraordinary ........ 145 

The Consulting-room of Miss Cooke 155 

A railway siding . . . . . . . . . .169 

In New Fusan 177 

Palace Gateway ........... 180 

Chemulpo 185 

On the Yalu River 197 

Chinese Encampment 203 

Beyond the Capital .......... 208 

Woodland Glades .......... 209 

Country Carts . . . -213 

A pitched battle 215 

A summer pleasaunce ......... 224 



ILLUSTRATIONS xv 

PAGE 

The Abbot of Chang An Sa 227 

The Abbot of Yu Chom Sa 233 

Yu Chom Sa 237 

An Altar-piece 239 

Shin Ki Sa 243 

The Abbot and Monks of Chang An Sa 245 

A Fair Magician . . .251 

Without the walls of Seoul 253 

The Temple of Heaven, Seoul 255 

A11 Imperial summer house, erected to mark the spot where the corpse 

of the late Queen was burned by the Japanese .... 260 
A bridge scene hi Seoul . . . . . . . . .261 

The streets are magnificent . 268 

Beyond the Amur . . . 281 

On the Han River . 282 

Washing clothes in a drain . . . . . . . . 284 

A day of festival 291 

Russian post on the Korean Frontier ...... 297 



INTRODUCTION 

Nothing is more natural than the circumstance that war 
should be the outcome of the existing crisis ; yet, equally, 
nothing is less certain. If the area of hostilities were not 
confined to the Far East, and the Power confronting 
Japan were any other than Russia, the outbreak of war 
might be predicted positively. But with Russia, considera- 
tion of the strategic qualities of her position in Manchuria 
must exercise a paramount influence upon her movements. 
To those who are not close students of military history, 
as well as to those who do not possess an extensive 
knowledge of the situation, the position in which Russia 
is placed equally affords the keenest interest. Certainly 
in the annals of military history, excluding the march of 
Napoleon upon Moscow, there is no war which may be said 
to have developed a parallel to the task which besets Russia 
in Manchuria and Korea. Her position at sea, moreover, is 
no better than that which she holds on land. Upon land, 
a single line of railway traversing the heart of an enemy's 
country terminates at Port Arthur. At sea, Vladivostock is 
cut off by reason of its position, while it is inaccessible on 
account of its climate. These points, Port Arthur and 
Vladivostock, define the extremities of the strategic position 
which Russia holds in Manchuria. Excluding Vladivostock 



xviii KOREA 

at this moment from any especial consideration, Port Arthur 
is left for the opening moves of this campaign. Therefore, 
Port Arthur, with a single line of communications in its 
rear, becomes the pivot of the operations. 

The aspect of Port Arthur from the sea is uninviting. 
Rugged hills, offshoots from the range of mountains which 
divides the Liao-tung peninsula, cluster round the bay, and 
encroaching upon the foreshore and bearing neither trees 
nor vegetation, impart to the surroundings a desolate and 
even wild appearance. Within the headlands of the harbour, 
conforming with the indentations of the coast, there are 
several bays shallow and unprofitable, but which in time 
may become an important adjunct to the small area of deep 
water which the harbour now possesses. Dredging opera- 
tions have been undertaken, but there is so much to be done 
that many years must pass before Port Arthur receives any 
material addition to its very restricted accommodation. The 
mud, brought down by the streams which empty into the 
harbour, has already affected the deep-water area, and since 
the harbour was constructed these deposits have encroached 
very considerably upon the depth off shore. At low water 
steamers, which lie up within sixty feet of the wharf, rest 
upon mud in little more than a fathom of water, and at the 
same time the space is so small that it is impossible for a 
dozen vessels to anchor in the harbour with any comfort. 
Steamers, if any larger in size than the small coasting-boats 
which call at Port Arthur from China and Japan must 
anchor off the entrance, unloading and re-charging from 
junks or tenders. In relation to the requirements of the 
squadron Port Arthur is not nearly large enough. When 
cruisers are taking in stores battleships remain outside, an 
arrangement which is manifestly inconvenient in a period 



INTRODUCTION xix 

of emergency. It was for this reason that the authorities 
constructed at Dalny — a few miles from the fortress and 
within Pa-tien-wan Bay — a new town, together with 
commercial docks and wharves, in order that Port Arthur 
might be devoted more particularly to the needs of the 
navy. 

Port Arthur is happy in the possession of all those 
objects which, to a naval base, are component parts of its 
success. The dry dock, somewhat weak and unsubstantial, 
is 385 feet in length, 34 feet in depth, and 80 feet broad, while 
the naval basin is equal in surface space to the total available 
steamer anchorage in the harbour proper. When the dredging 
works in the harbour bays have been completed it is hoped 
that a mean depth of four fathoms will have been obtained. 
This systematic deepening of the harbour will give to the 
fleet a surface anchorage considerably in excess of one 
square mile, but until the work has been executed the value 
of Port Arthur as a satisfactory naval base is infinitely 
less than the prestige which it enjoys as an impregnable 
position. 

Port Arthur possesses a small parade-ground, rifle-range, 
and artillery practice-ground, torpedo-station and training 
reservation, which will be enlarged when the bays are 
opened out. There is a flash-light station and various 
schools of instruction — torpedo, gunnery, telegraphy — 
while the arsenals and workshops which are built around 
the naval basin and within the navy yards are very 
thoroughly equipped. These effects, however, were mainly 
taken over by Russia when she seized Port Arthur ; their 
existence at the present moment tends to show how im- 
possible it is to under-estimate the advantages which Russia 
derives from the possession of this port, and how far- 

d 



xx KOREA 

reaching are the consequences of the monstrous blunder 
which Lord Salisbury committed when he acquiesced in its 
usurpation. 

Apart from the defences Russia, hitherto, has not added 
much to Port Arthur ; for the main part the troops have 
been quartered in the old Chinese houses or in the former 
barracks of the Chinese troops, affairs having been some- 
what neglected in view of the prior claim which the 
defences held. Now, however, fine barracks are in course 
of construction, and, if there is no war, it is anticipated 
that ample accommodation will be ready soon upon the 
shores of some of the bays and on the hills. The defences 
are indeed magnificent. Very few of the forts, which 
were in existence during the time of the Chinese, remain. 
Since the Russian Government entered upon possession 
the work of extending the perimeter of the defences, 
as well as strengthening the fortifications, has been a 
continuous labour. It is quite clear that the au- 
thorities are determined upon no half-measures. They 
have gained Port Arthur, and they propose to keep it. 
Upon the cliffs, rising immediately from the right of the 
harbour entrance, there is a most powerful position, formed, 
I believe, of a battery of six 21-inch Krupp guns, which was 
further supported by a fort placed a few feet above the 
harbour, and sweeping its immediate front, containing 
eight 10-inch Krupps. At the corresponding elevations 
upon the opposite headland there were two similar forts 
with identical batteries, while the mine fields within the 
harbour are controlled from these two lower positions. 
Following the hills to the south and north there are other 
forts ; one in particular, of great size, is placed upon the 
extreme crest of the range, and; towering above all else, 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

sweeps the sea and approaches to the harbour for great 
distances. It is impossible to detect the character of these 
guns, but from their position, and the extent of the fort and 
the nature of the part which they are intended to fill, it is 
improbable that they can be less than 27-ton guns, dis- 
charging shells of about 500 lb. The interior line of forts 
is no less formidable, and it must seem that Port Arthur 
can never be reduced by bombardment alone, while any 
force attacking by land would be severely handled by the 
positions from which the Russians propose to defend their 
flanks and the neck. At the present, however, there is a 
paucity of field-guns among the troops in garrison, in 
addition to which many of the more recently constructed 
forts lack artillery ; while the opinion may be hazarded 
that the entire position has been so over-fortified as to 
become a source of eventual weakness in the ultimate 
disposition of the Russian force. 

Of course a fight for the command of the sea must 
precede any land operations. Japan is within fifteen hours 
steam of Fusan, already a Japanese garrison-town, and of 
Ma-san-po, the port to which Russia and Japan make equal 
claim. The strait separating Japan from Korea is 200 
miles broad, while Russia's nearest base at Port Arthur is 
900 miles away on one hand and Vladivostock is 1200 miles 
away on the other. It follows therefore, that in Korea, and 
not in Manchuria, the troops of the Japanese army would be 
landed. Once established in Korea, Japan would be able to 
dispute the supremacy of the sea on equal terms. In this 
respect the possession by the Japanese of numerous torpedo 
craft confers a distinct advantage upon them, since it will be 
within their power to utilise their services if the Russian 
fleet were to attempt to check the movement. The absence 



xxii KOREA 

of any facilities for repairing damages makes it certain that 
so far as possible the Russian fleet will evade any serious 
engagement. It would be difficult to improve upon the 
position of Japan in this respect. At Yokosuka, from which 
place a large number of cruisers have been launched, there 
is a very extensive building-yard, and Japan also possesses 
suitable docks for large ships at Kure and Nagasaki. In all 
she has at her immediate disposal some half a dozen docks, 
400 ft. in length or more, and a very skilful army of 
working mechanics and workmen in general. Port Arthur 
must be regarded for practical purposes the naval base 
of Russia in the Far East in the event of a cold-weather 
campaign. 

Vladivostock is too far removed from the range of pro- 
bable utility. At this port, however, Russia has constructed 
one large dry dock, one floating dock 301 ft. long, and a second 
dry dock has been laid down. Against these two solitary 
and isolated centres, Japan possesses naval bases, arsenals 
and docks at the following points on her coast. 



Yokosuka 


. Arsenal, slip and dry dock. 


Kure . 


. Arsenal, slip, dry dock, armour-plate works 


Sassebo 


. Arsenal. 


M ait sura 


. New dockyard. 


Nagasaki 


. Three docks. 


Takeshiki 


. Coaling-station, naval base 


Ominato 


. Base for small craft. 


Kobe . 


. Torpedo repairing yard. 


Matsmai 


. Refitting station. 



The squadrons which Japan and Russia will be able to 
employ in this war are very formidable, and during the past 
few months each Power has made strenuous efforts to 
increase the strength of its fleet. 



INTRODUCTION xxiii 

In January 1903 the aggregate tonnage of the Russian 
Pacific Squadron stood at some 87,000 tons, the fleet 
including the battleships Pcresviet, Petropavlovsk, Poltava, 
Sevastopol, and the cruisers Rossia, Gromoboi, and Ritrik, 
with other smaller vessels. 

In March the tonnage went up to 93,000 tons, thanks to 
the arrival of the cruiser Askold from the Baltic. 

In May the cruisers Diana, Pallada, Novik, and the 
battleship Retvizau joined. 

In June the cruisers Bogatyr and Boyarin reached the 
scene. 

In July the battleship Probleda arrived." 

In November the battleship Tzarevitch and the cruiser 
Bayan further added to Russia's strength. 

In December the battleship Oslyabya, the armoured 
cruiser Dimitri Donskoi, the protected cruisers Aurora and 
Ahuaz, and eleven torpedo-boat destroyers. 

In January 1904 the battleship Imperator Alexander III. 
leaves the Baltic for the Far East. 

Russia has laboured under great disadvantages to secure 
her position in this region. In consequence of restricted 
shipbuilding resources and owing to an unfortunate geogra- 
phical position, Russia has not enjoyed those opportunities 
of adding to her Pacific fleet which have presented them- 
selves to Japan. In effect, if not in fact, Russia is compelled 
to maintain four navies. Unhappily, each is isolated from 
the other, many hundreds of miles separating them. Naval 
squadrons are concentrated in the Baltic, in the Black Sea, 
in the Caspian Sea and in the Pacific. The Pacific squadron 
is of recent establishment and of most modern construction. 
It dates back to 1898, from which time her policy of naval 
expansion began. Orders were placed with France, 



xxiv KOREA 

Germany and America for cruisers and battleships, coal 
was bought at Cardiff, and in a short space the nucleus of a 
powerful fleet had sprung into existence. At the present 
time these new ships are deficient in the various ratings, and 
hundreds of mechanics, gunners and engineers have been 
withdrawn from the Black Sea Squadron to do service with 
the Pacific Fleet, moving to the Pacific Ocean from the 
Black Sea by means of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Just 
now, and until the acute phase of the crisis has disappeared 
or war has been declared, the disposition of the Russian 
Pacific Squadron is as follows. 

At Port Arthur, the battleships Petropavlovsk, Poltava, 
Sevastopol, Peresviet, Retvizan, Probleda, and Tzarevitch ; the 
first-class cruisers Bayan, Askold, Pallada, Diana, and 
Varyag; the gunboats Bohr, Gremyashtchi, and Koreetz; the 
transports Amur, Yenissei, and Angara; the torpedo-cruisers 
Vsadnik, and Gaidamak; and the destroyers Bezshumni, 
Bezposhadni, Bditelni, Bezstrashni, Boevoi, Vnimatelni, Vmishi- 
telni, Viposlivi, Vlastni, Burnt, and Boiki. 

At Vladivostock, the first-class cruisers Rossia, Gronwboi, 
Rurik, and Bogaiyr, the gunboat Mandcliur, and the trans- 
port Lena. 

At Chemulpo, the second-class cruiser Boyariu, and the 
destroyer Grossovoi. 

At Ma-san-po, the second-class cruiser Rasboinik. 

In Nimrod Bay, the second-class cruiser Djijdjit. 

At Newchwang, the gunboats Otvazhni and Sivutch. 

At Nagasaki, the gunboat Gilvak. 

It will be seen from this list that Russia practically has 
the whole of her Pacific Squadron in and about the Yellow 
Sea. In addition to this force there is the squadron now 
en suite for the Far East, which lately passed through 



INTRODUCTION 



XXV 



Bizerta. This comprises the battleship Oslyabya, two 
second-class cruisers, Aurora and Dimitri Donskoi, and 
eleven torpedo-boat destroyers. The added strength which 
Russia will receive when these reinforcements, under 
Admiral Virenius, reach her will give her a numerical 
superiority over Japan. The greater efficiency, and that 
higher degree of skill, which is so noticeable aboard the 
Japanese fleet, reduces this preponderance to a mean level. 
However, Russia is by no means to be caught napping, as 
the formation in Port Arthur of a reserve naval brigade 
tends to show. ' Meanwhile, however, the subjoined detailed 
list presents the principal vessels in the Russian Pacific 
Squadron. The officers commanding are : 

Vice-Admiral Stark, 

Rear-Admiral Prince Ukhtomski, 

Rear-Admiral Baron Shtakelberg, 

Admiral Virenius (to join). 



BATTLESHIPS 



Tzarevitch (flagship) 
Probleda .... 
Poltava .... 
Sevastopol . . 
Petropavlovsk . . 
Peresviet . . . 
Retvizan . . . . 



Built 



1894 
1808 



Tonnage 



1901 13,000 

1900 j 12,000 

1894 j 11,000 

1895 j 11,000 



11,000 
12,000 



1900 j 12,700 

i 



Speed 
knots 



18 
19 

J 7 
J 7 
19 



Chief 
armament 



1 4 12 in. 

1 12 6 in. 

( 4 10 in. 

1 11 6 in. 
f 4 12 in. 
1 12 6 in. 
I 4 12 in. 

1 12 6 in. 
j 4 12 in. 
1 12 6 in. 
, 4 10 in. 
1 10 6 in. 
j 4 12 in. 
1 12 6 in. 



XXVI 



KOREA 



Reinforcements to join : Oslyabya, 12,000 tons, 4 10-in. guns, 10 6-in. 
guns; Navarin, 9,000 tons, 4 12-in. guns, 8 6-in. guns; Imperator 
Alexander III. 

CRUISERS 



Built 


Tonnage 


Speed, 
knots 


Chief 
armament 


Askold . . . 


1900 


7,000 


23 


12 6 in. 


Bayan . . . 


1900 


8,000 


21 


( 2 8 in. 
1 8 6 in. 


Gromoboi . . 


1899 


12,000 


20 


< 4 8 in. 
1 16 6 in. 


Rossia . . . 


1896 


I2,ooo 


20 


( 4 8 in. 
1 16 6 in. 


Rurik . . . 


1892 


11,000 


18 


f 4 8 in. 
1 16 6 in. 


Bogatyr . . . 
Varyag . . . 
Diana. . . . 
Pallada . . . 


1901 

1899 
1899 
1899 


6,000 
6,000 
7,000 
7,000 


23 
23 
20 
20 


12 6 in. 
12 6 in. 

8 6 in. 

8 6 in. 


Boyarin . . . 
Novik . . . 
Zabiuca . . . 
Djijdjit . . . 
Rasboinik . . 


1900 
1900 

1878 
1878 
1879 


3,000 
3,000 
1,300 
1,300 
1,300 


22 

25 

i-3 
13 


6 4.7 in. 
6 4.7 in. 
Field guns 
3 6 in. 
3 6 in. 



Reinforcements to join : Gremyashtchi, Admiral Nakhimoff; Aurora, 
Admiral Korniloff; Otrajny, Dmitri Donskoi ; Almaz. 

The gunboats on this station number nine, the destroyers 
eighteen, and the transports six. Thirteen destroyers are to 
join. 

This fleet, with reinforcements, compares numerically 
with the eventual strength of Japan as follows : 

Russia 
Japan 

A proportion of Japanese cruisers would be needed for 
coast defence, so that Russia is becoming numerically the 
stronger for sea work. In addition, Russia also has a power- 
ful auxiliary fleet, consisting of ten steamers of the Black 



Battleships 


Cruisers 


IO 


21 


7 


26 



INTRODUCTION 



XXVll 



Sea Steam Navigation Company, most of which were built 
on the Tyne, and average fourteen knots. The Russian 
Volunteer Fleet Association numbers twelve Tyne and 
Clyde built ships. They are also at the disposal of the 
authorities. 

Against this fighting array the Japanese are able to place 
vessels of equal size and displacement ; in the actual weight 
of metal the Japanese are at a disadvantage, but in the 
thickness of the armoured protection there is little to choose. 
Against this comparative equality of the opposing fleets 
there must be borne in mind the great advantage which 
Japan derives from her ability to use her own fortified ports 
as naval bases. Indeed, this is of such importance that the 
knowledge of this fact might induce her to risk her whole 
strength in a single engagement. Again, in the mercantile 
marine, which has increased enormously of recent years, 
Japan will find all she may require for the purposes of trans- 
port and auxiliaries to the war fleet. The principal vessels 
in the Japanese navy are here indicated : 



BATTLESHIPS 













Weight of 


Name 


Displace- 


I.H.P. 


Nominal 


Gun Pro- 


Broadside 




ment 




Speed 


tection 


Fire 


Hatsuse ) 


Tons 




Knots 


In. 


Lbs. 


Asahi - . . 


15,000 


15,000 


18.O 


14.6 


4240 


Shikishima 1 












Mikasa .... 


15,200 


16,000 


18.O 


14.6 


4225 


Yashima) 

Fuji i 












12,300 


13,000 


18.O 


14.6 


4000 



XXV111 



KOREA 

ARMOURED CRUISERS 













Weight of 


Name 


Displace- 


I.H.P. 


Nominal 


Gun Pro- 


Broadside 




ment 




Speed 


tection 


Fire 




Tons 




Knots 


In. 


Lbs. 


Tokiwa ) 
Asama > 


9750 


l8,000 


21.5 


6.6 


3568 


Yaqumo . . . 


9850 


16,000 


20.0 


6.6 


3368 


Azuma .... 


9436 


17,000 


21.0 


6.6 


3368 


Idzumai 
Iwate i" 


9800 


15,000 


24.7 


6.6 


3568 



In addition to these, early in January 1904 the two 
cruisers purchased in Italy from the Argentine Government 
will be ready for sea. 

PROTECTED CRUISERS 



Name 


Displace- 


I.H.P. 


Nominal 


Gun Pro- 


Weight of 
Broadside 




ment 




Speed 


tection 


Fire 




Tons 




Knots 


In. 


Lbs. 


Takasago . . . 


4300 


i5>5°o 


24.O 


4 *.2 


800 


Kasagi \ . * . 
Chitose l . . . 


4784 


15,500 


22.5 


4-2 -o 


800 


Itsukushimaj 












Hashidate r 
Matsushima ) 


4277 


5400 


16.7 


11.4 


1260 


Yoshino . . . 


4180 


15,750 


23.O 


— 


780 


Naniwa ) 
Takachiho ) 


3727 


7120 


17.8 


— 


1196 


Akitsushima . . 
Nitaka ) 
Tsushima 1 


3I50 
3420 


8400 
9500 


19.0 
20.0 


— 


780 
920 


Suma ) 
Akashi i 


2700 


8500 


20.0 


— 


335 



In connection with the First Division of the Japanese 
Fleet an interesting fact has transpired which, from reason 
of its association with this country, will prove of more than 
ordinary interest. In case of war it appears that with one 



INTRODUCTION 



XXIX 



exception the ships comprising this division are all British 
built. Designs, armour-plating and armament follow the 
type and standard of our own Navy, and it is therefore 
obvious that we cannot fail to be stirred deeply by the results 
of any collision which may occur. Each nation possesses 
in Far Eastern waters ships supplied with the latest appli- 
ances which science and ingenuity have devised. To the 
people of this Empire, whose security rests primarily upon 
the Fleet, our interest in the engagements is naturally the 
higher, by reason of the similarity between the ships which 
will be engaged upon one side and those of our own Navy. 
These vessels, all of which have received their war-paint, 
and whose place of concentration is Nagasaki, some 
585 nautical miles from Port Arthur, are as follows : 



Name Where built 


Tonnage 


Chief 
armament 


Hatsuse (B) . 






Elsv/ick 


15,000 


f 4 
I14 


12 in. 
6 in. 


Shikishima (B) 






Thames 


15,006 


1 4 
114 


12 in. 
6 in. 


Asahi (B) . . 






Clyde 


15,000 


f 4 
I14 


12 in. 
6 in. 


Fuji (B) . . 






Blackwall 


12,500 


( 4 
do 


12 in. 
6 in. 


Yashima (B) . 






Elswick 


12,500 


1 4 
lio 


12 in. 
6 in. 


Iwate (C) . . 






Elswick 


10,000 


J 4 
1 10 


8 in. 
6 in. 


Asama (C) 






Elswick 


10,000 


f 4 
(10 


8 in. 
6 in. 


Idzuma (C) . 






Elswick 


10,000 


I14 


8 in. 
6 in. 


Tokiwa (C) . 






Elswick 


10,000 


\ 4 
1 10 


8 in. 
6 in. 


Takasago (C) 






Elswick 


4>3°o 


( 2 
lio 


8 in. 
4.7 in. 


Kasagi (C) . 






Cramp 
(Philadelphia) 


5,000 


f 2 
lio 


8 in. 
4.7 in. 



(B) battleship ; (C) cruiser. 



xxx KOREA 

A torpedo flotilla, numbering thirty-five vessels, forms 
part of this division. The other divisions of the fleet for 
war comprise the following : 

Third division 
Second division. (Home) 

Battleships .... 2 ... — 

Cruisers 10 ... 8 

Small craft .... 30 ... 80 

In addition to these the auxiliary fleet numbers some 
forty steamers, for the most part vessels belonging to the 
Nippon Yusen Kaisha. 

The present constitution of the Japanese Army dates from 
1873, and the Military Forces consist of — (1) the permanent 
or Regular Army, with its Reserves and Recruiting Reserves ; 
(2) the Territorial Army ; (3) the National Militia ; and (4) 
the Militia of the various island centres off the coast, &c. 
Military service is obligatory in the case of every able-bodied 
male from the age of seventeen to forty years of age. Of 
this period, three years are passed in the permanent or 
Regular Army, four years and four months in the Regular 
Reserves, five years in the Territorial Army, and the remain- 
ing liability in the National Militia. The permanent Army, 
with its Reserves, conducts operations abroad, and the 
Territorial Army and the Militia are for home defence. 
These latter are equipped with Peabody and Remington 
single-loading rifles. The up-to-date strength of the per- 
manent Army, on a war footing, which does not include the 
Reserves, is as follows : 



INTRODUCTION 



XXXI 



Infantry, 52 regiments of 3 battalions, 
156 battalions 

Cavalry, 17 regiments of 3 squadrons, 
51 squadrons .... 

Field and Mountain Artillery, 19 regi 
ments of 6 batteries, total 114 bat 
teries of 6 guns = 684 guns 

Fortress Artillery, 20 battalions 

~ . ,13 Sapper battalions 

Engineers] J R^y battalion 

Transport, 13 battalions 



Officers 



400 

800 
530 
270 
20 
220 



Rank 
and File 



4,160 143,000 



9,300 



12,500 

10,300 

7,000 

550 

7740 



Horses 



52 
9,000 

8,800 

70 

215 

15 

40,000 



Total = 684 guns, 6400 officers, 190,390 rank and file, 
58,152 horses. 



The Reserves comprise 52 battalions of Infantry, 17 
squadrons, 26 Engineer and Transport companies, and 19 
batteries with 114 guns, yielding a total of 1000 officers, 
34,600 rank and file, and 9000 horses. Therefore, on 
mobilisation, the grand effective strength of the Army avail- 
able for service beyond the seas would amount to 7400 
officers, 224,990 rank and file, 798 guns, and 67,152 horses. 
Behind this, there is the Territorial Army, comprising 386 
Infantry battalions, 99 squadrons, 26 Engineer and Transport 
companies, and about 70 batteries, or 11,735 officers, 
348,100 men, 11 16 guns, and 86,460 horses. 

The Infantry and Engineers of the Regular Army have 
been recently re-armed with the Meidji magazine rifle. The 
following particulars show that the Japanese small arm is 
a superior weapon to the Russian, which dates from 
1891 : 



xxxii KOREA 

Japanese " Meidji," model 1897. 



Muzzle 


Sighted 


Weight 


No. of 


velocity. 


up to 


with 


Rounds 


Kt.-Sec, 


Yards. 


Bayonet. 


in Mag. 



Calibre. 

.255m. ... 2315 ... 700 ... glb.20z. ... 5 

Russian "Three-Line," model 1891. 
.299m. ... 1900 ... 2500 ...gib. 12 oz. ... 5 

The Regular Cavalry have the Meidji carbine. The 
Reserves are armed with the Murata magazine rifle, model 
1894, calibre .312 in., muzzle velocity 2000 feet-seconds, 
sighted up to 2187 yds., and weight with bayonet, 9 lb. 1 oz. 
The equipment carried by the Infantry soldier in the field 
weighs 43J lbs. 

The Regular Field and Mountain Artillery is armed with 
2.95 in. quick-firing equipment, with hydraulic compressor, 
throwing a 10 lb. projectile. This is known as the Arisaka 
equipment. The Fortress and Siege Artillery have the latest 
models of Krupp and Schneider-Canet in siege guns, guns 
of position, and mortars. The Reserve Field Artillery are 
armed with a 2.95 rifled cannon of bronze on the old 
Italian model. The Japanese have no Horse Artillery, and 
the only difference between the field and mountain equip- 
ments is that the latter is the shorter and lighter gun, and has 
not as long a range. The Cavalry is the least efficient army 
of the service. It carries sword and carbine, but no lance. 
The horses are badly trained ; the men are very indifferent 
riders. 

The strength of the Russian forces in Manchuria 
embraces 88 battalions, 60 squadrons and 50 batteries, 
which, together with the garrison forces and fortress 
armament, numbers 200,000 men and 300 guns. These 
troops in Manchuria are formed into two army corps 



INTR ODUCTION xxxiii 

of the first line and two of the second. Two new Rifle 
Brigades have just been added to the existing strength. They 
are composed as follows : 



7th Brigade 


8th Brigade 


Port Arthur 


Vladivostock 


General Kondratenko 


General Artamanoff 


25th Regiment 


29th Regiment 


26th 


30th „ 


3* ;: H-w) 


3ISt ,, \ , s 

3 2 nd ;: !-< new > 



The Russian is a phenomenal marcher ; the actual 
weight of his equipment is 58 lbs. 2 oz. One tent is carried 
in section between six men. Each soldier carries in his 
haversack two and a half days' biscuits. The ration in daily 
use for war consists of 



Biscuit . . . 1ID130Z. Tea . . . ^o; 



40 

s 

20 



Meat . . . 7j oz. Sugar . 

Groats . . • 4i oz - Spirits . . . 2V of a pint 

Salt . . - foz. 

In the exigencies of active service it happens that the 
Russian soldier must forage for himself. Under any circum- 
stances, however, he sustains himself on very little nourish- 
ment, and relies in a great measure upon what he can find. 
The Russian cavalry is armed with sword, rifle and bayonet. 
The latter is invariably carried " fixed," even when the 
weapon itself is slung. A few regiments only carry the 
lance. The field guns are steel breech-loaders manufactured 
at the Obukhov works. They are akin to the Krupp 
pattern ; many, however, have the interrupted screw breech 
piece and the de Bange obturation. At present there are 
many varieties of artillery with the Russian troops, 



xxxiv KOREA 

particularly in their fortified positions, to which places the 
Russian transported the seizures which they made from the 
Chinese during the Boxer crisis. These embraced French, 
German and British examples of artillery. 

On land, the immense superiority of the reserve numbers 
of the Russians reduces the advantages which would accrue 
to the Japanese if the fighting were confined to the sea. 
At the same time, however, it should be remembered that 
the Russian troops are slow movers, and although they 
may exhibit magnificent endurance, and although they 
may be relied upon to fight well, the lack of individual 
initiative upon the part of the Russian officers robs the 
operations of that dash and address which is embodied 
in the spirit of the Japanese army. Curiously enough, 
each side favours the Continental school of infantry and 
cavalry tactics, the underlying principles in the training 
of the Japanese revealing a close adherence to Teutonic 
methods. Neither side will profit, therefore, by any 
degree of indivisibility to which they may have attained. 
The winter great-coat of either army is very nearly identical 
in colour, and for warm weather Japanese and Russians 
alike favour a white blouse. There has been talk of the 
Japanese adopting a khaki tint ; upon the other hand, the 
blouse of the Russian soldier is by courtesy equally white or 
khaki. In the more important direction of land transport, it 
might appear that the Manchurian railway would be a crown- 
ing triumph for the Russian authorities. Unfortunately 
this immense length of rail, badly laid and indifferently 
equipped, will impose a perpetual strain upon the military 
resources. If the country population could be relied upon 
to maintain a benevolent neutrality towards telegraph 
poles and lines, railway sleepers and rails, the stone pillar 



INTRODUCTION xxxv 

and balks of the bridges, the possibility of any serious 
interruption of traffic would be materially lessened. Un- 
happily for the Russians, the attitude and acts of the native 
population, who, in a general way, will lose no opportunity 
to harass their enemy, must impede the effective co- 
operation of the Russian forces. 

Against this instinctive feeling of animosity there may 
be set the racial sympathy with the Japanese which governs 
every Chinaman. In Manchuria particularly, the Japanese 
enjoy a high reputation in the minds of the populace, 
while there is remembered, above aught eise, that prompt 
redemption of all obligations during the Chino-Japanese 
War which distinguished the policy of the invaders towards 
local interests. This policy of benevolence was exhibited 
for the second time during the Boxer crisis, and, of course, 
the striking example offered by the Japanese, in com- 
parison with the Russians, was not lost upon the Chinese. 
These things are recalled to-day in Manchuria, and they 
may be calculated to offset any reactionary sentiment which 
may take place in Korea. Between the hospital arrange- 
ments of each belligerent there is little to choose. The 
more efficient system of the Japanese service is equalised 
by the greater facilities which the possession of railway 
communication by the Russians will present to the trans- 
portation of the wounded. It should be pointed out, how- 
ever, that the principal medical service — the Russian Red 
Cross Society — is wholly patriotic, and that it is not, in any 
degree, a military organisation. It is liable to be withdrawn 
from the field at any moment after the conclusion of the 
major operations. 

Beyond these few observations it is difficult — if not 
impossible — to trespass with any certainty, although, as a 

/ 



xxxvi KOREA 

closing remark, it may perhaps be added that, provided the 
investment of Port Arthur be satisfactorily accomplished 
by sea and that Vladivostock were enclosed by ice, the 
estuaries of the Yalu and Lico Rivers enables an ad- 
mirable position to be taken up, from which the Russian 
position throughout Manchuria may be very readily 
threatened. Speculations as to the development of the 
campaign upon land are, however, quite absurd until 
something is known of the results of the naval engage- 
ments with which the war must open. Meanwhile 
the painful familiarity with the costs of war which dis- 
tinguishes the British taxpayer has directed no little 
attention to the financial position of either country. An 
eminent German financier, interested in the public debt of 
Russia, lately explained to me that a very large proportion of 
the moneys, which have been raised for the construction of 
the Russian inter-railway communications in addition to 
the Trans-Siberian and Manchurian Railways, has been set 
aside from time to time to supplement her war chest. These 
sums, added to those collected by Count Mouravieff with 
the assent of M. de Witte, and including the large balances 
which have accrued to the State by departmental economies 
during the past year, represent approximately a capital of 
one hundred millions sterling. Against this accumulation 
it is said that the financial position of Japan is most 
favourable. There is, I believe, a specie reserve in the 
Central Bank which amounts to 113,000,000 yen, plus 
some 40,000,000 yen in London. Moreover, the bank's 
note-issuing margin is 35,000,000 yen, which will be larger 
after the New Year. The Treasury has three capital funds, 
amounting together to 50,000,000 yen, besides some millions 
in London remaining from the bond sale of 1902. Finally, 



INTRODUCTION xxxvii 

there are large sums lying idle in all the banks throughout 
the country, while an Ordinance has been issued which 
provides the Government with unlimited credit. 

The more recent action of the Russians in Manchuria 
tends, of course, to support the view that war may be 
imminent. Nevertheless, bluff is a component part of 
Russian diplomacy, and there is ground for believing that 
the intentions of Russia in the Far East are by no means so 
warlike as the preparations now proceeding and the acts 
of the Russian administrative officials in Manchuria itself 
would imply. Russian diplomacy always covers the 
development of its plans by preparing to demonstrate in 
a contrary direction ; and at the present time her occupation 
of Korean territory is little else than the screen, behind 
which she proposes to secure her hold upon Manchuria. 
Nothing short of war will cause her to retire from her 
position in Manchuria ; but while Korean territory is of little 
value to the Russian protectorate, whatever the compromise 
which may be effected between Japan and Russia, she may 
be expected to make a determined effort to dominate the 
lower waters of the Yalu River. In fact, curious as it may 
seem, the estuary of the Yalu River is the very locale of the 
dispute between the two Powers, since, if Russia were ever 
permitted to dominate the Yalu River, she would gain at 
once that special position upon the frontiers of Korea which 
it is the desire of Japan to frustrate. In this Japan can rely 
only upon the shortshifts of diplomacy ; and although the 
Russian occupation of Yong-an-po may be circumvented, 
the development of An-tung upon the opposite shore of the 
river cannot be prevented. It seems, therefore, as inevitable 
that some commanding position upon the Yalu River must 
ultimately fall to her lot. An-tung lies within Manchurian 



xxxviii KOREA 

territory ; the Yalu River is the border stream between 
Manchuria and Korea, and at Yong-an-po the nucleus of 
an important Russian settlement has been established. 
The future contains no promise of the immediate settle- 
ment of the present difficulty. At best the outlook is 
confused ; while at the same time there is presented in a 
manner singularly clear and comprehensible the fact that 
Russia neither will evacuate New-chang, be driven out of 
Manchuria, nor abandon her position on the Yalu River. 
The position of Russia at New-chang has been indicated by 
past events, her occupation of Manchuria is an old story, 
and she is now engaged in the rapid development of her 
interests at An-tung. The position of this port endows it 
with unusual advantages, and the commercial potentialities 
of the place are very great. It lies about fifteen miles above 
Yong-an-po, on the opposite bank. At present the export 
trade is confined to millet and silk cocoons, the over- 
production of the latter commodity requiring close tech- 
nical supervision. Eight miles below An-tung, situated on 
the right bank of the river, is the likin station San-tao-lan-tao, 
where junks and rafts must report and pay the stipulated 
excise before they proceed onward. The river then bears 
away to the north-east, and after another stretch of seven 
miles there comes An-tung, upon the same bank, at a point 
where the stream divides, the eastern branch being the Yalu 
River. An-tung is of quite recent construction, and a few 
years ago millet fields occupied its site. Under the care of 
native merchants large, solid-looking houses have been 
built, broad streets have been opened out, and an air of 
unusual prosperity distinguishes the place. The anchorage 
is thronged with junks, while timber is stacked in vast 
quantities below the limits of the town. Sea-going steamers 



INTRODUCTION xxxix 

of the coaster type can here discharge and load their 
cargoes, thus obviating transhipment at Ta-tung-kao. 

Trade between Ta-tung-kao, which is situated at the 
mouth of the Yalu, and Chi-fu, is at present carried on by 
small steamers of the Mosquito flotilla and one British ship, 
the Hwang-ho, of the China Navigation Company (Messrs. 
Butterfield and Swire), while the vast volume of the exports 
and imports finds its way hither and thither in Chinese 
junks. The run from Chi-fu port is one of a hundred and 
eighty-five miles, and the time usually occupied in the trip 
north-eastward is twenty-two hours, the steamers anchoring 
in the fairway channel at a distance of four miles from 
Ta-tung-kao. Ta-tung-kao is a busy town, inasmuch as it 
is the place of transhipment for imports and exports, most 
of which go to or come from An-tung. The fact of 
steamers being unable to approach Ta-tung-kao makes 
An-tung the real business centre of the Yalu River. In 
respect of An-tung, two hundred Russian cavalry have been 
stationed there for over two and a half years. The canton- 
ment is situated on a small hill, marking the northern limit 
of the town, which has no wall. As usual, through the 
Yalu Valley these soldiers bear an evil reputation among 
the natives, from whom they commandeer at pleasure. 
Striking away from An-tung is the Pekin " Great Road," 
which runs to Liao-yang. Above An-tung the river divides 
and shoals exist, the water being so shallow that none but 
native craft can ply. Wi-ju is situated about ten miles to 
the eastward, and at a point west of Mao-kewi-shan, four 
miles below An-tung, there is the terminus of the branch 
of the Manchurian railway, which is to strike the river. 
The construction of this work will begin in the spring of 
1904. The first eighty miles offer little obstruction, and it 



xl KOREA 

is intended that the work shall be pushed forward until its 
junction with the main line of the system is accomplished. 
Russia, therefore, cannot well afford to ignore the conse- 
quences of her policy in the Far East, nor, at the same 
time, can she be expected to sacrifice, at the request of 
Japan, those great interests which she has been at such 
pains to foster. The position is, indeed, a striking example 
of the manner in which an imperious policy will create the 
taste, if not the necessity, for Imperialism. 

The position of Korea in regard to the disputed questions 
is a hopeless one. Unfortunately, the government of Korea 
is powerless to prevent either the advance of Russia or 
the steady spread of Japanese influence. She possesses 
neither army nor navy which can be put to any practical 
use, and she is in that position in which a country is placed 
when unable to raise its voice upon its own behalf. The 
army numbers a few thousand men, who, in the last few 
years, have been trained to the use of European weapons. 
They are armed with the Gras, (obsolete pattern) Murata, 
Martini, and a variety of muzzle-loading smooth-bore rifles. 
Their shooting powers are most indifferent, and they lack 
besides the qualities of courage and discipline. There is no 
artillery, and the cavalry arm is confined to a few hundred 
men with no knowledge of horse-mastership, and with no 
idea of their weapons or their duties. At a moment of 
emergency the entire force of mounted and dismounted 
men would become utterly demoralised. There are 
numerous general officers, while, I believe, the navy is 
composed of twenty-three admirals and one iron-built coal 
lighter, until quite lately the property of a Japanese steamship 
company. Korea is the helpless, hapless sport of Japanese 
caprice or Russian lust ; and it has been my aim to present an 



INTRODUCTION xli 

impartial study of the condition of the country in the pages of 
this volume. Since so many and so much abler pens have 
dealt with the position of Manchuria elsewhere, I have con- 
fined myself solely to a review of Korea. For this I trust that 
I may not be taken to task, while in order to satisfy those 
who think that some reference to the questions of Manchuria 
should have been incorporated in my book I have ventured 
to impart to my preface the appearance of a chapter which 
deals solely with this problem. And now, at the end of my 
work, a last, but none the less pleasant, duty awaits me. 
In addition to my own notes upon Korea I have gathered 
information from many people — writers, travellers, and 
students — all interested in the contemporary history of the 
Hermit Kingdom. These I now hasten to thank, and by 
naming them I would mark my grateful appreciation of 
the kindness which they have extended to me. To Mr. 
MacLeavy Brown, of the Korean Maritime Customs ; Mr. 
Gubbins, formerly of the British Legation, Seoul ; to my 
distinguished and learned friend, Professor Homer B. 
Hulbert, whose published notes upon Korea have been of 
exceptional value, I make hearty acknowledgments ; to 
Mrs. Bishop, Colonel Younghusband, the Rev. Mr. Griffis, 
Major Gould-Adams, authors of interesting and important 
contributions to any study of Korea, I express the sense of 
my obligation ; to the Rev. C. Collyer, who was good 
enough to make my spelling of Korean names identical 
with the standard of Dr. Gale ; to Mr. Bolton, of Messrs. 
Stanford, the map makers, of Long Acre, who laboured so 
patiently with the many shortcomings of my geographical 
data, I am, indeed, indebted. To Sir Douglas Straight, editor 
of the Pall Mall Gazette, whose paper it was my delight to re- 
present throughout my long residence in the Far East; to Mr. 



xlii KOREA 

Nicol Dunn, editor of the Morning Post; to Mr. S. J. Pryor, 
of the Daily Express, I have to record my acknowledgment 
of the courteous permission of these distinguished people 
to reproduce such portions of my work as have appeared in 
the columns of their respective organs from time to time. 
And last of all to my readers I offer this book in the hope 
that an immediate apology for its production may be 
permitted to atone for its numerous shortcomings. 

December 25, 1903. 



CHAPTER I 

Off the coast — Lack of survey intelligence — Island flora — 
Forgotten voyagers — Superstitions and beliefs — Outline of 
history 



Despite the survey work 
which has been accomplished 
in the past by the Japanese 
upon the coasts of Korea, 
little knowledge of the 
numerous islands and archi- 
pelagoes, shoals and reefs 
which make its shores the 
terror of all mariners, exists 
at present. Until the voyage 
of the Alccstc and Lyra in 
1816, the locality of these 
detached groups of rocky 
islets was not marked on any of the Japanese or Chinese maps 
of the period. In the map of the Empire prepared by the 
Jesuits at Pekin in the seventeenth century, the space now 
occupied by the Korean Archipelago was covered with the 
drawing of an elephant — the conventional sign of ignorance 
with the cartographers of that time. In the older native maps, 
the mainland embraced groups of islands, the most imperfect 

A 




DEVIL POST OUTSIDE SEOUL 



2 KOREA 

knowledge of the physical configuration of their own shores 
prevailing among the Koreans. In quite recent days, how- 
ever, the Korean Government has recognised this fact, and 
in the early months of 1903 the Japanese Government was 
requested to draw up a complete survey of the Hermit 
Kingdom. This work is now in process of execution, the 
plan of the coastline already having been completed. 

The coast of Korea is remarkable for the number of 
spacious harbours which distinguish it. Upon the West 
and South, indications of the volcanic period, through 
which the country has in part passed, are shown by the 
frequency with which these island groups occur. From a 
single peak upon one of the small islands off the south-west 
coast, as many as one hundred and thirty-five islets may be 
counted, stretching to the North and to the South, the resort 
of the sea-fowl ; desolate and almost uninhabited. Many 
of the more important islands have been cultivated, and 
give refuge and a lonely home to small communities of 
fishing-folk. 

Navigation is peculiarly dangerous in these waters. 
Many of the islands are submerged by the spring-tides, 
and the direction of the channels, scoured by the rush of 
the tide, becomes quite indefinite. In the absence of charts 
and maps, these island-fringed shores have been the scene 
of many shipwrecks ; Dutch, American, French, and 
British shipping meeting in one grim and silent procession 
a common end : captivity on shore or death in the sea. 
Some of these unfortunate mariners survived their experi- 
ences, leaving, after the fashion of Hendrik Hamel, the 
supercargo of the Dutch frigate Spatwehr, which went 
ashore off Quelpart in 1653, records and histories of their 
adventures to an incredulous posterity. Most of the islands 






OFF THE COAST 3 

lying off the coast are well wooded. As they are very 
beautiful to look upon and very dangerous to approach, 
they are regarded with mingled sentiments of reverence and 
superstition, differing little, in their expression, from the 
fear in which the ancients held the terrors of Scylla and 
Charybdis. Their isolated position, moreover, makes them 
the centre of much contraband trade between the Chinese 
and Koreans ; their defenceless state renders them an easy 
prey to any pirates who care to ravage them. 

The islands off the south-west coast are the sanctuaries 
of many animals. Seals sport and play unharmed among 
the rocks ; the woody peaks are rich in game : teal, crane, 
curlew, quail, and innumerable small birds make them their 
breeding-grounds. The shores are happy hunting-grounds 
for naturalists, and a variety of marine food is found through- 
out the archipelago. A number of well-marked species of 
sponge may be gathered, and the coral beds display many 
violent tints and delicate shades, forming in their beautiful 
colourings a sea garden of matchless splendour. The flora 
of these islands is a no less brilliant feature of the summer 
landscape. Tiger-lilies, showy and gigantic, daisies, asters, 
many varieties of cactus, grow side by side with curious 
ferns, palms and creepers, almost tropical in their character 
and profusion, yet surviving the cooler temperature of 
autumn and winter, to greet each coming spring with 
freshened beauty. The air vibrates with the singing and 
buzzing of insects, the limpid day is bright with gaudy 
butterflies. Snow-white herons stand in the shallows. 
Cormorants, diving birds and ducks throng the reefs to 
rise in clouds with many angry splutterings when their 
haunts are invaded. In the deeper waters, there are myriads 
of fish ; in passing from group to group along the coast 



4 KOREA 

shoals of whales are to be seen, blowing columns of spray 
aloft, or sleeping idly upon the surface. 

The coast of Korea is well sprinkled with the names of 
foreign navigators, who, in previous centuries, essayed to 
visit the Land of the Morning Radiance. With rare ex- 
ceptions, these visitors were turned back. Some were 
captured and tortured; many were ordered off at once, 
few were ever entertained. None were invited to make any 
stay in the new land, or permitted to inspect its wonders 
and curiosities. Beyond the Japanese, those who succeeded 
in sapping the wall of isolation which was so carefully built 
around the country and so rigorously maintained, were gene- 
rally escorted inland as prisoners, the unconscious victims 
of some successful stratagem. In a manner, the fashion 
of their treatment is revealed in the curious names with 
which these pioneers of navigation have labelled the capes 
and promontories, the islands and shoals, which they were 
lucky enough to locate and whose dangers they were fortu- 
nate enough to avoid. Many of these names have ceased to 
be recognised. The lapse of time has caused them to be 
obliterated by European hydrographers from the maps and 
charts of the country and seas, in which their originators 
had risked so much. In many parts of the coast, however, 
particularly upon the w r est, along the shores of the Chyung- 
chyong Province, these original names have been preserved. 
They form, to-day, a tribute to the earnestness and intre- 
pidity of these early explorers. This mead of recognition is 
only just, and is not to be denied to their undoubted gallantry 
and enterprise. 

It is not impossible to believe that an unusually fickle 
fate followed in their footsteps, prompting them to leave 
thus for the guidance of future generations, some hint of 



FORGOTTEN VOYAGERS 5 

their own miscalculations. If one may judge, from the 
brief narratives which these discoverers have left behind 
them, the result of their work upon these inhospitable 
shores surpassed anything that they had foreseen. The visit 
of these hardy spirits aroused the curiosity of the Koreans, 
giving to them their first knowledge of that outer world 
which they had spurned for centuries. Despite the golden 
opportunities now presented to them, however, they con- 
tinued to neglect it. The memory of the black ships and 
the red beards (Dutchmen) — as they dubbed the strange 
craft and stranger devils, that had to appear only off their 
shores to be shipwrecked — dwelt long in their minds. 
Although they treated these strangers with comparative 
generosity, they were careful to preserve inviolate the 
secrets and sanctity of their land. They rejected with 
contumacy the friendly overtures of strangers who came 
in monster ships, and who, forsooth, left behind nothing 
but a name. It is scarcely astonishing, therefore, that there 
are many points upon the coast of Korea which bear some- 
what uncomplimentary names. Deception Bay, Insult 
Island, and False River savour of certain physical dis- 
comforts, which, too great to be borne in silence, left an 
indelible impression upon the associations of the spot. 

If the Dutch sailors of 1627 were among the earliest to 
reach the forbidding shores of this kingdom, the activities of 
British voyagers were most prominent in the succeeding 
century. The work of Captain W. R. Broughton, of the 
British sloop-o'-war, of sixteen guns, Providence, is described 
to this day by the bays and harbours into which he pene- 
trated, and the capes and straits which this gallant man 
christened, to the credit of the distant island kingdom from 
which he hailed. Broughton in 1797, Maxwell of the 



6 KOREA 

Alceste, with Basil Hall, commander of the British sloop-o'- 
war, the Lyra, in 1816, deserve the passing fame which is 
secured to them by the waters and capes which have been 
named after them. Their names figure as landmarks upon 
the west, the east, and the south coasts. While Maxwell and 
Hall preferred to devote their attention to the discovery and 
examination of the Korean Archipelago — of which, although 
Broughton does not mention it, it seems impossible that the 
discoverer of Broughton Strait can have been ignorant — 
Broughton roughly charted and surveyed the west coasts, 
coming to a temporary halt in Broughton Bay, some six 
hundred miles to the north. Hall left his name in Basil's 
Bay, where Gutzlaff landed in 1832 to plant potatoes and to 
leave seeds and books. A generation later, in 1866, the 
archipelago to the north-west was named after the Prince 
Imperial, who was to meet his death in Zululand in 1878. 
In 1867, Prince Jerome's Gulf, an inlet upon the mainland 
of the Chyung-chyong Province, was to be the scene of 
Oppert's famous attempt to remove large deposits of buried 
treasure and venerated relics from an Imperial tomb. These 
names upon the east and west coasts suggest nothing of the 
romance which actually surrounds them. " At most they 
conjure up the shadowy silhouettes of the redoubtable 
personages, to whom they once belonged, and with whose 
memory many journeys of discovery in these seas are 
inseparably linked. 

Englishmen were not the sole navigators who were 
attracted by the unknown character of the land, and the 
surpassing dangers of the waters, around the Island of Quel- 
part, where the Sea of Japan mingles in tempestuous chaos 
with the Yellow Sea. Russian and French navigators also 
worked their way through the dangerous shoals and quick- 



FORGOTTEN VOYAGERS 7 

sands, along the tortuous and muddy rivers, into the harbours 
and through the narrow straits which hold back these 
islands from the mainland. The shores teem with the 
distinguished names of men of science and sons of the high 
seas. Following the curl and twist of its configuration a 
host of buried names are revealed, the last evidence of men 
who are dead and forgotten. It is infinitely pathetic that 
even this one last resting-place should be denied to their 
reputations. Lazareli, who shares Broughton's Bay ; Unkoff- 
sky, who foundered in the waters of the bay which is described 
by his name ; the ill-fated La Perouse, who, in June 1787, 
discovered in the Sea of Japan an island which now bears 
the name of the astronomer — Dagelet. Durock, Pellisier, 
Schwartz, and the rest — what echo do we find of them, 
their fates, and subsequent careers ? Should not their 
names at least bear witness to their pains and labours, to the 
difficulties which they faced, to the small joy of something 
attempted, something done, which was their sole consolation 
for many hours of cheerless and empty vigil ? 

Korea is a land of exceptional beauty. The customs, the 
literature, and the geographical nomenclature of the kingdom 
prove that the superb and inspiring scenery of the peninsula 
is quite appreciated by the people. In the same manner that 
the coast-line of Korea bears evidence of the adventurous 
spirit of many western mariners, the names given to the 
mountains and rivers of the country by the inhabitants them- 
selves reflect the simplicity, the crudity, and the supersition 
of their ideas and beliefs. All mountains are personified in 
Korea. In the popular belief, they are usually associated 
with dragons. Every village offers sacrifices to the mountain- 
spirits. Shrines are erected by the wayside and in the 
mountain passes that travellers may tender their offerings 



8 KOREA 

to the spirits and secure their goodwill. The Koreans 
believe that the mountains in some way exert a benign and 
protecting influence. The capital of Korea possesses its 
guardian-mountain. Every town relies upon some pre- 
serving power to maintain its existence. Graves, too, must 
have their custodian peaks, or the family will not prosper, 
and the impression prevails that people are born in accord- 
ance with the conformation of the hills upon which the 
tombs of their ancestors are situated. Rough and rugged 
contours make for warriors and militant males. Smooth 
surfaces and gentle descents beget scholars ; peaks of singular 
charm and position are associated with beautiful women. 
Like the mountain-ranges, lakes and pools, rivers and streams 
exercise geomantic powers, and they are the abodes of pre- 
siding shades, benevolent or pernicious. In lakes, there are 
dragons and lesser monsters. In mountain pools, however, 
no wraith exists unless some one is drowned in the waters of 
the pool. When this fatality occurs, the figure of the dead 
haunts the pool until released by the ghost of the next 
person who meets with this misfortune. The serpent is 
almost synonymous with the dragon. Certain fish become 
in time fish-dragons ; snakes become elevated to the dignity 
and imbued with the ferocity of dragons when they have 
spent one thousand years in the captivity of the mountains, 
and one thousand years in the water. All these apparitions 
may be propitiated with sacrifices and prayers. 

In the province of Kang-won, through which the ranges 
of the Diamond Mountains pass, there are several peaks 
symbolical of this belief in the existence of supernatural 
monsters. One dizzy height is named the Yellow Dragon, 
a second the Flying Phoenix, and a third, the Hidden 
Dragon, has reference to a demon who has not yet risen 



SUPERSTITIONS AND BELIEFS 9 

from the earth upon his ascent to the clouds. The names 
which the Koreans give to their rivers, lakes and villages, as 
also to their mountains, bear out their wish to see the 
natural beauties of their land associated with its more dis- 




GUARDIAN OF A GRAVE 



tinctive features. This idiosyncrasy, however, would seem 
to be exceptionally pronounced in the case of mountains. 
The Mountain fronting the Moon, the Mountain facing the 
Sun, the Tranquil Sea, the Valley of Cool Shade, and the 
Hill of White Clouds emphasise this desire. Again, in Ham- 
kyong, the most northern province in the Empire, the 
more conspicuous peaks receive such designations as the 
Peak of Continuous Virtue, the Peak of the Thousand 
Buddhas, the Lasting Peace, the Sword Mountain, Heaven 
Reaching Peak, the Cloud Toucher. It is evident, therefore, 
that appreciation of nature, no less than reverence for the 
supernatural, underlies the system by which they evolve 

B 



io KOREA 

names for the landmarks of their country. The peculiarities 
of their land afford great scope for such a practice, and it is 
to be admitted that they give ample vent to this peculiar 
trait in their imagination. 

Korea is now an independent Empire. From very early 
times until 1895 * ne King of Korea was a vassal of China, 
but the complete renunciation of the authority of the 
Emperor of China was proclaimed in January 1895, by an 
Imperial decree. This was the fruit of the Chino-Japanese 
war, and it was ratified by China under the seal of the treaty 
of peace signed at Shimonosaki in May of the same year. 
The monarchy is hereditary, and the present dynasty has 
occupied the throne of Korea in continuous entail since 
1392. Inhabited by a people whose traditions and history 
extend over a period of five thousand years, and subjected 
to kaleidoscopic changes whereby smaller tribes were ab- 
sorbed by larger, and weaker governments overthrown by 
stronger, Korea has gradually evolved one kingdom, which, 
embracing all units under her own protection, has presented 
to the world through centuries a more or less composite 
and stable authority. There can be no doubt that the 
whilom vassal of China, in respect of which China and 
Japan made war, has taken much greater strides upon the 
path of progress than her ancient neighbour and iiege lord. 
There is no question of the superiority of the conditions 
under which the Koreans in Seoul live and those prevailing 
in Pekin, when each city is regarded as the capital of its 
country — the representative centre in which all that is best 
and brightest congregates. 

It was in 1876 that Korea made her first modern treaty. 
It was not until three years later that any exchange of 
envoys took place between the contracting party and 



OUTLINE OF HISTORY n 

herself. Despite the treaty, Korea showed no disposition 
to profit by the existence of her new relations, until the 
opening of Chemulpo to trade in the latter part of 1883 
revealed to her the commercial advantages which she was 




INDEPENDENCE ARCH 



now in a position to enjoy. All this time China had been 
in intercourse with foreigners. Legations had been estab- 
lished in her capital ; consuls were in charge of the open 
ports ; commercial treaties had been arranged. She was 
already old and uncanny in the wisdom which came to her 
by this dealing with the people of Western nations. But, 
in a spirit of perversity without parallel in constitutional 
history, China retired within herself to such a degree that 
Japan, within one generation, has advanced to the position 
of a Great Power, and even Korea has become, within 
twenty years, the superior of her former liege. In less 



12 



KOREA 



than a decade Korea has promoted works of an industrial 
or humanitarian character which China, at the present time, 
is bitterly and fatally opposing. It is true that the 
liberal tendencies of Korea have been stimulated by asso- 
ciation with the Japanese. Without the guiding hand of 
that energetic country the position which she would enjoy 
to-day is infinitely problematical. The contact has been 
wholly beneficial. Its continuation forms the strongest 
guarantee of the eventual development of the resources of 
the kingdom. 




PAGODA AT SEOUL 



CHAPTER II 

Physical peculiarities — Direction of advancement — Indications 
of reform and prosperity — Chemulpo — Population — Settle- 
ment — Trade 



Korea is an extremely moun- 
tainous country. Islands, harbours, 
and mountains are its most pro- 
nounced natural features, and 
nearly the whole of the coast 
consists of Ihe slopes of the various 
mountain ranges which come 
down to the sea. There are many 
patches upon the west, where the 
approaches are less precipitous 
and rugged than upon the east. 
The coast seems to follow the con- 
tour of the mountains. It presents, particularly from the 
east, that lofty and inaccessible barrier of forest-clad 
country, which has won the admiration of all navigators 
and struck terror into the hearts of those who have met 
with disaster upon its barren and rocky shores. From 
Paik-tu-san to Wi-ju there is one mighty and natural 
panorama of mountains with snow-clad, cloud-wrapped 
summits, and beautiful valleys with rich crops and quaintly 




A MOMENT OF LEISURE 



i 4 KOREA 

placed, low-thatched hovels, through which rivers course like 
angry silver. Everywhere in the north the mountains pre- 
dominate ; monstrous in shape and size. They are rich in 
minerals ; they have become sepulchres for the dead and 
mines for the living — for in their keeping lies the wealth of 
the ages, coal and iron and gold ; upon their summits, resting 
beneath the sky or within some nook hewn from their rugged 
slopes, are the graves of the dead. Mining and agriculture 
are almost the sole natural resources of the kingdom. 
There are great possibilities, however, in the awaken- 
ing energies and instincts of the people, which may lead 
them to create markets of their own by growing more 
than suffices for their immediate requirements. As yet, 
notwithstanding the improvements which have been in- 
augurated, and the industrial schemes, which the govern- 
ment has introduced, the reform movement lacks cohesion. 
Indeed the nation is without ambition. But the prospect is 
hopeful. Already something has been accomplished in the 
right direction. 

At present, however, Korea is in a state of transition. 
Everything is undefined and indetermined ; the past is in 
ruins, the present and the future are in the rough. Reforms 
are scarce a decade old, and, while many abuses have been 
redressed, the reform movement suffers for lack of support, 
comprehension, and toleration. The aspirations of the few 
are extending but slowly to the nation. Progress is gradual 
and the interval is tedious. The commercial phase of the 
movement is full of vitality, and the factories which have 
been established show the evolution of enterprise from 
aspiration. Foreigners are introducing education, while 
the pre>ent commercial activities are attributable to their 
suggestion and assistance. The small response, which these 



REFORM AND PROSPERITY 15 

efforts elicit, make the labour of keeping the nation in the 
right direction very difficult. The people can scarcely 
relapse into the conservatism of ancient days, but they 
may collapse altogether, owing to the unfortunate circum- 
stances which are now making Korea an object of ironical 
and interested observation among the Western Powers. She 
may be absorbed, annexed, or divided ; in endeavouring to 
remain independent, she may wreck herself in the general 
anarchy that may overtake her. She has given much 
promise. She has constituted a Customs service, joined in 
the Postal Union and opened her ports. She has admitted 
railways and telegraphs, and shown kindness, consideration 
and hospitality to every condition of foreigner within her gates. 
Her confidence has been that of a child and her faults are 
those of the nursery. She is so old and yet so infinitely 
young ; and, by a curious fatality, she is now face to face 
with a situation which again and again has occurred in her 
past history. 

The introduction of Western inventions to Korea has 
gradually eliminated from contemporary Korean life many 
customs which, associated with the people and their tradi- 
tions from time immemorial, imparted much of the repose 
and picturesqueness which have so far distinguished the 
little kingdom. Korea, in the twentieth century, bears 
ample evidence of the forward movement which is stimu- 
lating its people. Once the least progressive of the countries 
of the Far East, she now affords an exception almost as 
noticeable as that shown by the prompt assimilation of 
Western ideas and methods by Japan. Chemulpo, however, 
the centre in which an important foreign settlement and 
open port have sprung up, does not suggest in itself the 
completeness of the transformation which in a few years has 



1 6 KOREA 

taken place in the capital. It is twenty years since Chemulpo 
was opened to foreign trade, and to-day it boasts a magni- 
ficent bund, wide streets, imposing shops, and a train service 
which connects it with the capital. Its sky is threaded with 
a maze of telephone and telegraph wire, there are several 
hotels conducted upon Western principles, and there is, 
also, an international club. 

At the threshold of the new century, the port presents an 
interesting study. With the adjoining Ha-do, a hamlet of 
military pretensions, it has grown in the twenty years of 
its existence from a cluster of fishermen's huts behind a hill 
along the river at Man-sak-dong into a prosperous cosmo- 
politan centre of twenty thousand people. Its growth, since 
the first treaty was negotiated with the West upon May 22, 
1882, by the American Admiral Shufeldt, has been extra- 
ordinary. Its earlier years gave no promise of its rapid and 
significant advance. Trade has flourished, and a boom in 
the trade of the port has sent up the value of local properties. 
There is now danger of a decline in this state of affluence 
which may, in view of the chaos and uncertainty of the 
future of the kingdom, retard the settlement and disastrously 
affect its present prosperity. From small and uncertain 
beginnings four well-built, well-lighted settlements have 
sprung up, expanding into a general foreign, a Japanese, a 
Chinese, and a Korean quarter. The Japanese section is the 
best located and the most promising. The interests of this 
particular nation are also the most prominent in the export 
and import trade of the port, a position which is emphasised 
still further by the important nature of its vested interests, 
among which the railroad between Seoul, the capital, and 
Chemulpo, with the trunk extension to Fusan, is paramount. 
The Japanese population increased by nearly five hundred 



i 8 KOREA 

during 1901. It then numbered some four thousand six 
hundred, of whom a few hundred were soldiers constituting 
a temporary garrison for the settlement. However, since 
the modification by the Japanese Government of the emi- 
gration laws with reference to China and Korea, under 
which, in the first weeks of 1902, the necessity for travelling 
passports was abolished in the case of these two countries, 
there has been a great increase in the number of Japanese 
residents at the treaty ports. The settlement at Chemulpo 
now embraces one thousand two hundred and eighty-two 
houses, and possesses a population of five thousand nine 
hundred and seventy-three adults. The census of the Chinese 
settlement fluctuates with the season ; considerable numbers 
of farmers cross from Shan-tung to Korea during the summer, 
returning to their native land in winter. In the period of 
exodus from China, the Chinese population exceeds twelve 
hundred. The complete strength of the general foreign 
settlement is eighty-six, of which some twenty-nine are 
British. The one British firm in Korea is established in 
Chemulpo. 

There are many nationalities in Chemulpo, and the small 
community, excluding the Japanese and Chinese, is made up 
as follows : British, twenty-nine and one firm, the remaining 
twenty-eight being attached to the Vice-Consulate, the 
Customs, and a missionary society ; American, eight and 
two firms ; French, six and one firm ; German sixteen 
and one firm ; Italian, seven and one firm ; Russian, four 
and two firms ; Greek, two and one firm ; Portuguese seven, 
Hungarian five, and Dutch two, the last three possessing 
no firms in the port. 

If British interests are not materially represented in 
Chemulpo, other nationalities are less backward. By means 



CHEMULPO 19 

of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the journey from London to 
Chemulpo can now be accomplished within twenty-one days. 
When the Seoul- Fusan Railway is finished, communication 
between the East and the West will be still further facilitated. 
It is intended that less than two days shall suffice for the 
connection between Chemulpo and Tokio. Meanwhile the 
service of the Chinese Eastern Railway Company's steamers 
between Port Arthur, Dalny and Chemulpo has been 
accelerated. In addition, also, imposing new offices have 
been erected at the port. It is much to be regretted that 
there is no regular service of British steamers to the ports 
of Korea. In singular contrast to the apathy of British 
steamship companies is the action of the Hamburg-America 
Company, which has now arranged for the periodic visits 
of its steamers to Chemulpo. From a commercial stand- 
point the port has become an important distributing 
centre. Foreign trade with the capital and its environs 
passes through it, and the administrative officers of the 
more important gold-mining concessions, of which there are 
now four, American, Japanese, French, and British, have 
settled there. A cigarette factory, supported by the Govern- 
ment, is now in operation in the port. During 1901 ninety- 
three men-of-war entered Chemulpo, of which thirty-five 
were Japanese, twenty-one English, fifteen Russian, eleven 
French, five Austrian, four German, one Italian, and one 
American. Of steamers and sailing-vessels there were 1036, 
of which 567 were Japanese with 304 steamers, 369 Korean 
junks and steamers, twenty-one Russian steamers, eight 
American sailing-ships and one American steamer, four 
English steamers, three German steamers, sixty-two Chinese 
junks, and one Norwegian steamer — forty-seven more men- 
of-war and seventy more merchant vessels than in 1900. 



20 KOREA 

The shipping which entered and cleared at the port during 
1900 was 370,416 tons, realising a small increase upon 
previous years ; of these, 500 steamers with 287,082 tonnage 
were Japanese, 261 steamers with 45,516 tons were Korean, 
forty-one steamers of 27,999 tons Russian, tw r o steamers of 
4416 tons British/ four steamers of 2918 tons German. The 
complete return of all shipping entered at the open ports of 
Korea during the year 1902 — the latest under review — is 
added as a separate table at the end of this book. 

In Chemulpo, as in all the ports of the kingdom which 
are open to foreign trade, there is a branch of the Imperial 
Korean Maritime Customs, an offshoot of the excellent 
service which exists in China under the administration of 
Sir Robert Hart. The working of the Korean Customs, for 
which Mr. McLeavy Brown is primarily responsible, is 
singularly successful, and redounds greatly to the credit of 
the comptrolling power. In an epoch characterised by the 
extraordinary ineptitude, indifference, and weakness of our 
public men, it is much to be deplored that the services 
of this distinguished Englishman are not more directly 
dedicated to the needs of his country. The careers of these 
two admirable officials fill me with mingled regret for the 
remoteness of their sphere of action, and high appreciation 
of their unremitting zeal — feelings few public servants may 
more fitly inspire than these two isolated, hardworking 
chiefs of a sister service, whose work, carried on in an 
atmosphere of treachery and deceit, too often meets with 
the blackest ingratitude. 

The advance which the trade of Korea has made is proof 
sufficient of its innate possibilities under honest administra- 
tion. If the revenues of the Customs are not diverted in 
the meantime to less important objects, there is every hope 



TRADE 



21 



to believe that facilities will be given to its development. 
The Emperor has lately sanctioned the grant of one million 
yen from the Customs revenue for the provision of aids to 
navigation. Thirty-one lighthouses are to be built ; the two 




CHEMULPO 



earliest being placed upon Roze and Round Islands off the 
entrance to the Han river, upon which Chemulpo lies. 
When this work is accomplished, the increase of shipping 
in the harbour is sure to create some sympathetic develop- 
ment in the resources of the country. 

The net value for 1901 of the combined export and 
import direct foreign trade throughout the kingdom, 
exclusive of gold export, was more than twenty-three 
million (23,158,419) yen, the value of the gold export 
being a little in excess of four million (4,993,351) yen. 
The exchange rate of the Japanese yen is roughly two 
shillings and a half-penny, which gives the combined values 
of the total foreign trade as 2,873,827 pounds sterling. The 
trade of Chemulpo during this time was 11,131,060 yen, 



22 KOREA 

being an increase of nearly one million yen upon the trade 
returns of the last three years. The exports were gold, 
rice, beans, timber and hides; the imports comprised 
American and Japanese goods for the most part, and a 
small and decreasing trade with England. The total foreign 
imports reached a value of 5,573,398 yen, and the total exports 
were 4,311,401 yen. The returns for the year following, 
1902, were, in brief : exports, .£269,747 ; imports, .£814,470. 
Foreign interests in the total trade passing through Chemulpo, 
in comparison with those since 1891, show a great and steady 
advance. The total revenue for 1891 was a little less than 
300,000 yen, and in the year 1900 this sum had advanced to 
more than 550,000 yen, the increase in the general pros- 
perity during these years correspondingly affecting the total 
revenue of the kingdom. 

Compared with 1901 there was a falling-off in the total 
trade of the country for the year 1902. In 1902 the entire 
foreign trade amounted to .£2,745,346 sterling, which was 
composed as follows : 



Imports. 


Exports. 


Exports of Gold 


£ 


£ 


£ 


1,382,351 


846,034 


516,961 



The balance of trade was against Korea, therefore, to 
the extent of only £^6,356 sterling, whereas the average 
excess of imports over exports for the past five years was 
.£107,309. Only in 1900 were the exports greater than the 
imports. The average of trade for the past five years was 
£'2,370,075 sterling, a return which in reality credits the 
year 1902 with £'378,271 more than the average. As a 
matter of fact, the month of December 1902 showed a 
larger volume of trade and more duty collected at Chemulpo 
than ever before. Specifically, in comparison with the pre- 



TRADE 



2 3 



vious year, the imports of 1902 were less in the amount of 
-£117,914, while exports had declined £7567. Large stocks 
were carried over from 1901, hence some depreciation in 
the volume of the trade was inevitable. However, for the 
better comprehension of the economic relations of Korea 
with the trade of foreign countries, I have collected the 
returns of the years, with which I have dealt here, in one 
simple table, to which is added a quinquennial average, 
covering a period which begins with the year 1 




PAVILION ON THE WALL OF THE CAPITAL 



CHAPTER III 

Move to the capital— A city of peace — Results of foreign 
influence— In the beginning — Education — Shops — Costume — 
Origin — Posts and telegraphs — Methods of cleanliness 




The situation in which Seoul lies 
is enchanting. High hills and 
mountains rise close to the city, 
their sides rough, rugged and 
bleak, save where black patches of 
bushes and trees struggle for exist- 
ence, The hollows within this 
rampart of hills and beyond the 
walls, are fresh and verdant. Small 
rice-fields, with clusters of thatched 
hovels in their midst, stretch 
between the capital and the port 
at Chemulpo. The atmosphere is 
the city is neat and orderly. It 
is possible, moreover, to live with great comfort in the 
three-storied brick structure, which, from a pretty 
collection of Korean buildings, nestling beneath the city 
wall, has been converted into the Station Hotel. 

There is but one wall round Seoul. It is neither so high 
nor so massive as the wall of Peking ; yet the situation of 



HEN-SELLER 



clear ; the air is sweet 



MOVE TO THE CAPITAL 25 

the city gains so much in beauty from the enclosing moun- 
tains, that it seems to be much the more picturesque. If the 
capital of Korea is more charmingly situated than the capital 
of China, the wall of Seoul is reminiscent of the walls of the 
Nankow Pass in the superb disdain with which it clings to 
the edges of the mountains, climbing the most outlandish 
places in the course of its almost purposeless meanderings. 
It extends beyond the lofty crests of Peuk-an and across the 
splendid and isolated peak of Nam-san, enclosing a forest 
in one direction, a vacant and soulless plain in another, 
dropping here into a ravine, to emerge again a few hundred 
feet higher on the mountain slopes. The wall is in good 
preservation. In places it is a rampart of mud faced with 
masonry ; more generally it is a solid structure of stone, 
fourteen miles in circumference, twenty-five to forty feet in 
height, battlemented along its entire length and pierced by 
eight arches of stone. The arches serve as gateways ; they 
are crowned with high tiled towers, the gables of which 
curve in the fashion of China. 

Within the radius of these stone walls, the city spreads 
itself across a plain, or high on the mountain side, within 
the snug shelter of some hollow, enjoys a pleasant, cool and 
comfortable seclusion. Within its metropolitan area there 
are changes of scenery which would delight the most weary 
sightseer. Beyond these limits, the appearance and character 
of the country is refreshing, and is without that monotonous 
dead-level stretch of plain, which, reaching to the walls of 
Pekin, detracts so greatly from the position of that capital. 
Within this broader vista there are hills and wooded 
valleys. Villages rest beneath the grey, cool shadows of the 
bush. Upon the hills lie many stately tombs, fringes 
of trees shielding them from the rush of the winds. There 

D 



26 KOREA 

are pretty walks or rides in every quarter, and there is no 
fear of molestation. Everywhere it is peaceful ; foreigners 
pass unnoticed by the peasants, who, lazily scratching the 
surface of their fields, or ploughing in the water of their rice 
plots with stately bulls, occupy their time with gentle 
industry. It is more by reason of a bountiful nature that 
has endowed their land with fertility, than by careful 
management or expenditure of energy that it serves their 
purpose. 

A few years ago it was thought that the glory of the 
ancient city had departed. Indeed, the extreme state of 
neglect into which the capital had fallen gave some justi- 
fication for this opinion. Now, however, the prospect is 
suggestive of prosperity. The old order is giving way to the 
new. So quickly has the population learned to appreciate 
the results of foreign intercourse that, in a few more years, it 
will be difficult to find in Seoul any remaining link with the 
capital of yore. The changes have been somewhat radical. 
The introduction of telegraphy has made it unnecessary to 
signal nightly the safety of the kingdom by beacons from 
the crests of the mountains. The gates are no longer closed 
at night ; no more does the evening bell clang sonorously 
throughout the city at sunset, and the runners before the 
chairs of the officials have for some time ceased to announce 
in strident voices the passing of their masters. Improve- 
ments, which have been wrought also in the conditions of the 
city — in its streets and houses, in its sanitary measures and in 
its methods of communication — have replaced these ancient 
customs. An excellent and rapid train runs from Chemulpo ; 
electric trams afford quick transit within and beyond the 
capital ; even electric lights illuminate by night some parts 
of the chief city of the Hermit Kingdom. Moreover, an 



A CITY OF PEACE 27 

aqueduct is mentioned ; the police force has been re- 
organised ; drains have come and evil odours have fled. 
The population of the capital for the year 1903 was 194,000 
adults. This is a decrease of 2546 upon the year 1902. 

The period which has passed since the country was 
opened to foreign trade has given the inhabitants time 
to become accustomed to the peculiar differences which 
distinguish foreigners. It has afforded Koreans countless 
opportunities to select for themselves such institutions as 
may be calculated to promote their own welfare, and to 
provide at the same time compensating advantages for their 
departure from tradition. Not only by the construction of 
an electric tramway, the provision of long-distance telephones 
and telegraphs, the installation of electric light, a general 
renovation of its thoroughfares and its buildings, and the im- 
provement of its system of drainage, does the capital of Korea 
give tokens of the spirit which is at work amongst its in- 
habitants. Reforms in education have also taken place ; 
schools and hospitals have been opened ; banks, foreign 
shops and agencies have sprung up ; a factory for the 
manufacture of porcelain ware is in operation ; and the 
number and variety of the religions with which foreign 
missionaries are wooing the people are as amazing and com- 
plex as in China. There will be no absence in the future of 
those soothing conjectures from which the consolations 
of religion may be derived. The conduct of educational 
affairs is arranged upon a basis which now gives every facility 
for the study of foreign subjects. Special schools for foreign 
languages, conducted by the Government under the super- 
vision of foreign teachers, have been instituted. Indeed, 
most striking changes have been made in the curriculum of the 
common schools of the city. Mathematics,geography, history, 



28 KOREA 

besides foreign languages, are all subjects in the courses of these 
establishments, and, only lately, a special School of Survey, 
under foreign direction, has been opened. The enlighten- 
ment, which is thus spreading throughout the lower classes, 
cannot fail to secure some eventual modification of the 
views and sentiments by which the upper classes regard 
the progress of the country. As a sign of the times, it is 
worthy to note that several native newspapers have been 
started ; while the increase of business has created the 
necessity for improved facilities in financial transactions, 
a development which has appealed not only to the Dai Ichi 
Ginko. The Russo-Chinese Bank is proposing to contend 
with this Japanese financial house. The establishment at 
Chemulpo of a branch of the Russian Bank is contemplated, 
from whence will come an issue of rouble notes to compete 
with the various denominations of the Japanese Bank. More- 
over, the Government is preparing to erect a large building 
in foreign style in the centre of the city, to be used as the 
premises of the Central Bank of Korea. It will be a three- 
storied building, and it is intended to establish branches in 
all the thirteen provinces of the Empire. Its chief aim is to 
facilitate the transfer of Government moneys, the transport 
of which has always been a severe tax upon the Govern- 
ment. It will, however, engage in general banking business, 
and for this purpose Yi Yong-ik, the President of the 
Central Bank, is preparing at the Government mint one, 
five, ten and one hundred dollar bills for issue by it. 

Along with these objects, the postal and telegraph 
service has received no little attention. Up to the year 
1883 Korea was without telegraphic communication. At 
that time the Japanese laid a submarine cable from Nagasaki 
to the Korean port of Fusan with an intermediate station 



A CITY OF PEACE 29 

upon the island of Tsu-shima. A little later, in 1885, China, 
taking advantage of her suzerain rights, deputed Mr. J. H. 
Muhlensteth, a telegraph engineer who had been in her 
service many years and who formerly had been an employe 
of the Danish Telegraph System, to construct a land tele- 
graph line from Chemulpo by way of Seoul and Pyong- 
yang to Wi-ju on the Yalu River opposite the Chinese 
frontier post of An-tung, which had connection with the 
general system of Chinese telegraphs. This line toward 
the north-west was for many years the only means of 
telegraphic communication between the capital of Korea 
and the outside world. It was worked at the expense and 
under the control of the Chinese Government, and it was 
not until the time of the Chino-Japanese war, in the course 
of which the line was almost entirely destroyed, that it 
was reconstructed by the Korean Government. 

In 1889 the Korean Government built a line from Seoul to 
Fusan. After the Chino-Japanese war, telegraphic communi- 
cation was extended from Seoul to Won-san and Mok-po. 
During recent years continuous progress has been made 
until the total development in the interior has now reached 
3500 kilometres, divided into twenty-seven bureaux and 
employing 113 men as directors, engineers, secretaries, and 
operators, with 303 as students. The Morse system is in 
use. The electricity is generated by the use of the Leclanche 
batteries. Telegrams may be sent either in the native 
Korean script, in Chinese, or in the code used by the 
Chinese administration, and in the different foreign lan- 
guages authorised by the International Telegraph Agree- 
ment. Horse relays are kept at the different telegraph 
centres in the interior to facilitate communication with 
points far distant. 



30 KOREA 

The subjoined table reveals by comparison the develop- 
ment in the Korean system of telegraphs which has taken 
place during recent years : 





1899. 


1900. 


1901. 


1902. 


Telegrams 


112,450 .. 


125,410 .. 


152,485 . 


209,418 


Revenue . 


$50,686-89 .. 


. $72,443-26 . 


. $86,830-86 . 


.. $112,337-18 


Length of lines 










in li 


5000 .. 


5090 .. 


6510 . 


7060 


Offices 


19 .. 


22 .. 


27 


27 



The establishment of the Imperial Postal System in 
Korea is comparatively recent. For many years, in fact 
for many centuries, Korea has possessed no postal service 
as we conceive of it. An official courier service was main- 
tained by the King in order to carry on correspondence 
with the different provincial governors. These messengers 
travelled by horse relays, which were maintained at various 
points in the country. Private correspondence was carried 
on through the medium of travellers or pedlars, the sender 
having to arrange privately with the carrier in each instance. 
In 1877, Japan, who had entered the Postal Union and had 
concluded a treaty with Korea, established postal bureaux 
at Fusan, Won-san and Chemulpo for the needs of her 
nationals, who were already quite numerous in Korea. In 
1882 the Customs Administration also established a sort of 
postal system between the different open ports and between 
Korea and China. But these organisations were limited to 
correspondence between open ports, and whoever wished to 
send a letter into the interior had to make private arrange- 
ments. In 1884 the Government of Korea made a first 
attempt to establish an official postal system which would 
be accessible to all. 

It was not until 1895, however, after the close of the 



A CITY OF PEACE 31 

Chino- Japanese war, that the Korean Postal Service was at 
last established under the direction of a Japanese. For several 
years this service was confined to Korea herself, and did not 
undertake any foreign business. In 1897 the Korean Govern- 
ment determined to join the Postal Union, and to this end 
two representatives were sent to the Universal Postal Con- 
gress, held at Washington in May and June of that year. 
They signed the international agreement. Finally, in 1898, 
the Government secured the services of M. E. Clemencet, a 
member of the Postal and Telegraph Bureau of France, as 
adviser and instructor to the Postal Bureau, and on January 1, 
1900, Korea entered the Postal Union. 

The Service comprises, in addition to the central bureau 
at Seoul, thirty-seven postal stations, in full operation, and 
326 sub-stations open to the exchange of ordinary or 
registered correspondence, whether domestic or foreign. 
Seven hundred and forty-seven letter boxes have been dis- 
tributed throughout postal circuits in charge of these 
stations. Only the stations in full operation are carried 
on by agents or sub-agents under the control of the 
Director-General of Communications to the number of 
756, of which 114 are agents and secretaries, and 642 are 
couriers, watchmen, &c. The management of secondary 
offices is in the hands of local country magistrates under 
the control of the Ministry of the Interior, and has no con- 
nection with the Department of Communications except in 
so far as the control and management of the postal system is 
directly affected. A network of land postal routes, starting 
out from Seoul along the seven main highways, is run daily 
in both directions by postal couriers. Each of the large 
country offices controls a courier service, which, in turn, 
connects with the smaller country offices. These secondary 



32 KOREA 

offices are served three times a week by unmounted postal 
couriers, who number in all 472 men. Each man carries on 
his back a maximum load of twenty kilogrammes. When 
the mail matter exceeds this limit extra men or pack horses 
are employed. The courier has to cover daily a minimum 
distance of forty kilometres. In central Korea and in the 
south and the north-west each route is covered, back and 
forth, in five days. In the north and north-east eight days 
are required for each round trip. 

Besides these land courier services the Postal administra- 
tion has employed, since Korea joined the Postal Union, 
various maritime services for forwarding mail matter to 
the different Korean ports and for the despatch of foreign 
mail. The different steamship companies which carry 
Korean mail are : The Nippon Yusen Kaisha, whose boats 
touch at Kobe, Nagasaki, Fusan, Mok-po (occasionally), 
Chemulpo, Chi-fu, Taku, Won-san and Vladivostock. The 
Osaka Chosen Kaisha boats, which touch at Fusan, Ma-san-po, 
Mok-po, Kun-san, Chemulpo and Chin-am-po. The last port 
is closed by ice from December to March. The Chinese 
Eastern Railway Company, whose boats ply between Vladi- 
vostock and Shanghai by way of Nagasaki, Chemulpo, Port 
Arthur, and Chi-fu, are also utilised. 

The man, who did so much to make a success of the 
Korean Customs has also effected the wonderful repairs of 
the capital. The new Seoul is scarcely seven years old, but 
Mr. McLeavy Brown and the Civil Governor, an energetic 
Korean official, since transferred, began, and concluded 
within four weeks, the labour of cleansing and recon- 
structing the slimy and narrow quarters in which so many 
people lived. To those, who knew the former state of the 
city, the task must have appeared Gargantuan. Nevertheless, 







NOT ONE WHIT EUROPEANISED 



3+ KOREA 

an extraordinary metamorphosis was achieved. Old Seoul, 
with its festering alleys, its winter accumulations of every 
species of filth, its plastering mud and penetrating foulness, 
has almost totally vanished from within the walls of the 
capital. The streets are magnificent, spacious, clean, admir- 
ably made and well drained. The narrow, dirty lanes have 
been widened ; gutters have been covered, and roadways 
broadened ; until, with its trains, its cars, and its lights, its 
miles of telegraph lines, its Railway Station Hotel, brick 
houses and glass windows, Seoul is within measurable 
distance of becoming the highest, most interesting, and 
cleanest city in, the East. It is still not one whit Europe- 
an ised, for the picturesqueness of the purely Korean principles 
and standards of architecture has been religiously main- 
tained, and is to be observed in all future improvements. 

The shops still cling to the sides of the drains ; the 
jewellers' shops hang above one of the main sewers of the 
city ; the cabinet and table-makers occupy both sides of an 
important thoroughfare, their precious furniture half in and 
half out of filthy gutters. A Korean cabinet is a thing of 
great beauty. It is embossed with brass plates and studded 
with brass nails, very massive, well dovetailed, altogether 
superior in design and finish. The work of the jewellers 
is crude and unattractive, although individual pieces may 
reveal some artistic conception. In the main the orna- 
ments include silver bangles, hairpins and earrings, with 
a variety of objects suitable for the decoration of the hair. The 
grain merchants and the vegetable dealers conduct their 
business in the road. The native merchant loves to encroach 
upon the public thoroughfares whenever possible. Once 
off the main streets of the city, the side alleys are completely 
blocked to traffic because of the predilection of the shop- 



SHOPS 



35 



keepers upon either side of the little passages to push their 
wares prominently into the roadway. The business of 
butchering is in Korea the most degraded of all trades. It 
is beyond even the acceptance and recognition of the most 




i 


■J 


/-.? 


'% 


jfv 











A SIDE ALLEY 



humble orders of the community. The meat shops are 
unpleasantly near the main drains. 

There are innumerable palaces in the capital, but as 
His Majesty very frequently enlarges his properties, there 
is the prospect of other buildings being adapted to his 
Imperial use. The precincts of the Palace always afford 
opportunities for foreigners to become familiar with the 
features of the many Ministers of State. In their anxiety 
to advise their sovereign, they wrangle among themselves, 
or plot and counterplot, and fight for the cards in their 
own hands, irrespective of the fate which their jealousies may 
bring down upon their country. At all hours processions 



36 KOREA 

of chairs are seen making for the palace, where, having 
deposited their masters, the retinue of retainers and followers 
lounge about until the audience is over. Then, with the 
same silent dignity, the Ministers are hurried away through 
the crowds of curiously hatted and clothed people who 
scarcely deign to notice the passing of the august personages. 

The officials are elegantly superior in their manner and 
appearance. The distinction in the costumes of the 
different classes is evinced perhaps by the difference in 
their prices. The dress of a noble costs several hundred 
dollars. It is made from the finest silk lawn which can be 
woven upon the native looms. It is exceedingly costly, of 
a very delicate texture, and cream colour. It is ample in its 
dimensions and sufficiently enveloping to suggest a bath 
gown. It is held in place by two large amber buttons 
placed well over upon the right breast. A silken girdle of 
mauve cord encircles the body below the arm-pits. The 
costume of any one individual may comprise a succession 
of these silken coats of cream silk lawn, or white silk lawn, 
in spotless condition, with an outer garment of blue silk 
lawn. The movement of a number of these people dressed 
in similar style is like the rustle of a breeze in a forest of 
leaves. The dress of the less exalted is no less striking in 
its unblemished purity. It costs but a few dollars. It is 
made from grass lawn of varying degrees of texture or of 
plain stout calico. It is first washed, then pounded with 
heavy sticks upon stones, and, after being dried, beaten 
again upon a stock until it has taken a brilliant polish. This 
is the sole occupation of the women of the lower classes, 
and through many hours of the day and night the regular 
and rhythmic beating of these laundry sticks may be heard. 

The costume of the women is in some respects peculiar 




NATIVE DRESS 



38 



KOREA 



to the capital. The upper garment consists of an apology 
for a zouave jacket in white or cream material, which may 
be of silk lawn, lawn, or calico. A few inches below this 
begins a white petticoat, baggy as a sail, touching the ground 
upon all sides, and attached to a broad band. Between the 

two there is nothing except the 
bare skin, the breasts being fully 
exposed. It is not an agreeable 
spectacle, as the women seen 
abroad are usually aged or in- 
firm. At all times, as if to em- 
phasise their fading charms, they 
wear the chang-ot, a thin, green, 
silk cloak, almost peculiar to the 
capital and used by the women 
to veil their faces in passing 
through the public streets. Upon 
the sight of man, they clutch it 
beneath the eyes. The neck of the 
garment is pulled over the head of the wearer, and the long, 
wide sleeves fall from her ears. The effect of the contrast be- 
tween the hidden face and the naked breast is exceptionally 
ludicrous. When employed correctly only one eye, a sugges- 
tion of the cheek and a glimpse of the temple and forehead 
are revealed. It is, however, almost unnecessary, since in the 
case of the great majority of the women, their sole charm 
is the possible beauty that the chang-ot may conceal. They 
wear no other head-covering. For ordinary occasions 
they dress their hair quite simply at the nape of the neck, 
in a fashion not unlike that which Mrs. Langtry introduced. 
The head-dress of the men shows great variety, much as 
their costume possesses a distinctive character. When they 




THEY WEAR THE CHAXG-OT 




A STUDY IN HATS 



4 o KOREA 

are in mourning, the first stage demands a hat as large as a 
diminutive open clothes-basket. It is four feet in circum- 
ference and completely conceals the face, which is hidden 
further by a piece of coarse lawn stretched upon two sticks, 
and held just below the eyes. In this stage nothing what- 
ever of the face may be seen. The second stage is denoted 
by the removal of the screen. The third period is mani- 
fested through the replacement of the inverted basket by the 
customary head-gear, made in straw colour. The ordinary 
head-covering takes the shape of the high-crowned hat worn 
by Welsh women, with a broad brim, made in black gauze 
upon a bamboo frame. It is held in place by a chain 
beneath the chin or a string of pieces of bamboo, between 
each of which small amber beads are inserted. There are a 
variety of indoor and ceremonial caps and bandeaux which 
are worn by the upper and middle classes. 

The hair is dressed differently by single and married 
men. If unmarried, they adopt the queue ; when married, 
they put up their hair and twist it into a conical mass upon 
their heads, keeping it in place by a woven horsehair band, 
which completely encircles the forehead and base of the 
skull. A few, influenced by Western manners, have cropped 
their hair. This is specially noticeable among the soldiers 
on duty in the city, while, in compliance with the orders of 
the Emperor, all military and civil officials in the capital 
have adopted the foreign style. Boys and girls, the queerest 
and most dirty little brats, are permitted up to a certain age to 
roam about the streets, to play in the gutters, and about the 
sewage pits in a state of complete nudity — a form of economy 
which is common throughout the Far East. The boys 
quickly drift into clothes and occupations of a kind. The 
girls of the poorer orders are sold as domestic slaves and 



ORIGIN 41 

become attached to the households of the upper classes. 
From their subsequent appearance in the street, when 
they run beside the chairs of their mistresses, it is quite 
evident that they are taught to be clean and even dainty 
in their appearance. At this youthful age they are quaint 
and healthy looking children. The conditions under which 
they live, however, soon produce premature exhaustion. 

Despite the introduction of certain reforms, there is 
still much of the old world about Seoul, many relics of 
the Hermit Kingdom. Women are still most carefully 
secluded. The custom, which allows those of the upper 
classes to take outdoor exercise only at night, is observed. 
Men are, however, no longer excluded from the streets 
at such hours. The spectacle of these white spectres 
of the night, flitting from point to point, their footsteps 
lighted by the rays of the lantern wmich their girl- 
slaves carry before them, is as remarkable as the 
appearance of Seoul by daylight, with its moving masses 
all garmented in w 7 hite. A street full of Koreans aptly 
suggests, as Mr. Henry Norman, M.P., once wrote, the 
orthodox notion of the Resurrection. It cannot be denied 
that the appearance of both men and women makes 
the capital peculiarly attractive. The men are fine, well- 
built and peaceful fellows, dignified in their bearing, polite 
and even considerate towards one another. The type 
shows unmistakable evidences of descent from the half 
savage and nomadic tribes of Mongolia and Northern 
Asia and the Caucasian peoples from Western Asia. 

These two races, coming from the North in the one case 
and drifting up from the South in the other, at the time of 
the Ayraan invasion of India, peopled the north and south 
of Korea. Finally merging among themselves, they gave to 

F 



4 2 



KOREA 



the world a composite nation, distinct in types, habits, and 
speech, and amalgamated only by a rare train of circum- 
stances over which they could have had no control. It is 
by the facial resemblances that the origin of the Koreans 
may be traced to a Caucasian race. The speech of the 
country, while closely akin to Chinese, reproduces sounds 
and many verbal denominations which are found in the 
languages of India. Korea has submitted to the influence 
of Chinese arts and literature for centuries, but there is 
little actual agreement between the legends of the two 
countries. The folk-lore of China is in radical disagreement 
with the vague and shadowy traditions of the people of 
Korea. There is a vast blank in the early history of Korea, 
at a period when China is represented by many unimpaired 
records. Research can make no advance in face of it ; 
surmise and logical reflections from extraneous comparisons 
alone can supply the requisite data. Posterity is thus pre- 
sented with an unrecorded chapter of the world's history, 
which at the best can be only faintly sketched. 




MEANS OF LOCOMOTION 



CHAPTER IV 

The heart of the capital — Domestic Economy — Female slavery 
— Standards of morality— A dress rehearsal 



The inhabitants of the Hermit 
Kingdom are peculiarly pro- 
ficient in the art of doing 
nothing gracefully. There is, 
therefore, infinite charm and 
variety in the daily life of Korea. 
The natives take their pleasures 
passively, and their constitutional 
incapacity makes it appear as if 
there were little to do but to 
indulge in a gentle stroll in the 
brilliant sunshine, or to sit cross- 
legged within the shade of their 
houses. Inaction becomes them; nothing could be 
more unsuited to the character of their peculiar costume 
than vigorous movement. The stolid dignity of their 
appearance and their stately demeanour adds vastly to the 
picturesqueness of the street scenes. The white-coated, 
white-trousered, white-socked, slowly striding population 
is irresistibly fascinating to the eye. The women are no 
less interesting than the men. The unique fashion of 




A SANG-KO 



44 KOREA 

their dress, and its general dissimilarity to any other form 
of feminine garb the world has ever known, renders it 
sufficiently characteristic of the vagaries of the feminine 
mind to be attractive. 

Women do not appear very much in the streets during 
daylight. The degree of their seclusion depends upon the 
position which they fill in society. In a general way the 
social barriers which divide everywhere the three classes are 
well defined here. The yang-ban or noble is, of course, the 
ruling class. The upper-class woman lives rather like a 
woman in a zenana ; from the age of twelve she is visible 
only to the people of her household and to her immediate 
relatives. She is married young, and thenceforth her 
acquaintances among men are restricted solely to within 
the fifth degree of cousinship. She may visit her friends, 
being usually carried by four bearers in a screened chair. 
She seldom walks, but should she do so her face is in- 
variably veiled in the folds of a chang-ot. Few restrictions 
are imposed upon the women of the middle class as to 
their appearance in the streets, nor are they so closely 
secluded in the house as their aristocratic sisters ; their 
faces are, however, veiled. The chang-ot is by no means 
so complete a medium of concealment as the veil of 
Turkey. Moreover, it is often cast aside in old age. The 
dancing-girls, slaves, nuns, and prostitutes, all included in 
the lowest class, are forbidden to wear the chang-ot. Women 
doctors, too, dispense with it, though only women of the 
highest birth are allowed to practise medicine. 

In a general way, the chief occupation of the Korean 
woman is motherhood. Much scandal arises if a girl 
attains her twentieth year without having married, while 
no better excuse exists for divorce than sterilitv. In 



46 KOREA 

respect of marriage, however, the wife is expected to 
supplement the fortune of her husband and to contri- 
bute to the finances of the household. When women 
of the upper classes wish to embark in business, certain 
careers, other than that of medicine, are open to them. 
They may cultivate the silkworm, start an apiary, weave 
straw shoes, conduct a wine-shop, or assume the position 
of a teacher. They may undertake neither the manufacture 
of lace and cloth, nor the sale of fruit and vegetables. A 
descent in the social scale increases the number and 
variety of the callings which are open to women. Those 
of the middle class may engage in all the occupations of 
the upper classes, with the exception of medicine and 
teaching. They may become concubines, act as cooks, 
go out as wet nurses, or fill posts in the palace. They 
may keep any description of shop, tavern, or hotel ; they 
possess certain fishing privileges, which allow them to take 
clams, cuttle-fish, and beches de mer. They may make 
every kind of boot and shoe. They may knit fishing-nets, 
and fashion tobacco-pouches. 

If some litt'e respect be accorded to women of the middle 
classes, those of a lower status are held in contempt. Of the 
occupations open to women of the middle classes, there are 
two in which women of humble origin cannot engage. They 
are ineligible for any position in the palace : they may not 
manufacture tobacco-pouches. They may become sorcer- 
esses, jugglers, tumblers, contortionists, dancing-girls and 
courtesans. There is this wide distinction between the 
members of the two oldest professions which the world has 
ever known : the dancing-girl usually closes her career by 
becoming the concubine of some wealthy noble ; the cour- 
tesan does not close her career at all. 



4 8 KOREA 

It is impossible not to admire the activity and energy of 
the Korean woman. Despite the contempt with which she 
is treated, she is the great economic factor in the household 
and in the life of the nation. Force of circumstance has made 
her the beast of burden. She works that her superior lord 
and master may dwell in idleness, comparative luxury, and 
peace. In spite of the depressing and baneful effects of this 
absurd dogma of inferiority, and in contradiction of centuries 
of theory and philosophy, her diligent integrity is more 
evident in the national life than her husband's industry. 
She is exceptionally active, vigorous in character, resourceful 
in emergency, superstitious, persevering, indomitable, coura- 
geous, and devoted. Among the middle and lower classes 
she is the tailor and the laundress of the nation. She does 
the work of a man in the household and of a beast in the 
fields ; she cooks and sews ; she washes and irons ; she 
organises and carries on a business, or tills and cultivates a 
farm. In the face of every adversity, and in those times of 
trial and distress, in which, her liege and lazy lord utterly 
and hopelessly collapses, it is she who holds the wretched, 
ramshackle home together. Under the previous dynasty, the 
sphere of the women of Korea was less restricted. There 
was no law of seclusion ; the sex enjoyed greater public 
freedom. In its closing decades, however, the tone of society 
lowered, and women became the special objects of violence. 
Buddhist priests were guilty of widespread debauchery ; 
conjugal infidelity was a pastime ; rape became the fashion. 
The present dynasty endeavoured to check these evils by 
ordaining and promoting the isolation and greater subjec- 
tion of the sex. Vice and immorality had been so long and 
so promiscuously practised, however, that already men had 
begun to keep their women in seclusion of their own accord. 



FEMALE SLAVERY 



49 



If they respected them to some extent, they were wholly 
doubtful of one another. Distrust and suspicion were thus 
the pre-eminent causes of this immuring of the women, the 
system developing of itself, as the male Koreans learnt to 




A MIDDLE- CLASS FAMILY 

dread the evil propensities of their own sex. It is possible 
that the women find, in that protection which is now accorded 
them, some little compensation for the drudgery and inter- 
minable hard work that is their portion. 

The system of slavery among the Koreans is confined, at 
present, to the possession of female slaves. Up to the time 
of the great invasion of Korea by the Japanese armies under 
Hideyoshi, in 1592, both male and female slaves were per- 
mitted. The loss of men in that war was so great that, upon 
its conclusion, a law was promulgated which forbade the 
bondage of males. There is, however, the sang-no (slave 
boy), who renders certain services only, and receives his 

G 



50 KOREA 

food and clothes in compensation. The position of the 
sang- no is more humble than that rilled by the paid servant 
and superior to that of the slave proper. He is bound by 
no agreement and is free to leave. 

The duties of a slave comprise the rough work of the 
house. She attends to the washing — an exacting and con- 
tinuous labour in a Korean household ; carries water from 
the well, assists with the cooking, undertakes the marketing 
and runs errands. She is not allowed to participate in any 
duties of a superior character ; her place is in the kitchen or 
in the yard, and she cannot become either a lady's maid 
or a favoured servant of any degree. In the fulness of time 
she may figure in the funeral procession of her master. 

There are four ways by which the Korean woman may 
become a slave. She may give herself into slavery, volun- 
tarily, in exchange for food, clothes and shelter through her 
abject poverty. The woman who becomes a slave in this 
way cannot buy back her freedom. She has fewer rights 
than the slave who is bought or who sells herself.' The 
daughter of any slave who dies in service continues in 
slavery. In the event of the marriage of her mistress such 
a slave ranks as a part of the matrimonial dot. A woman 
may be reduced to slavery by the treasonable misdemeanours 
of a relative. The family of a man convicted of treason 
becomes the property of the Government, the women 
being allotted to high officials. They are usually liberated. 
Again, a woman may submit herself to the approval 
of a prospective employer. If she is found satisfactory and 
is well recommended, her services may realise between 
forty, fifty, or one hundred thousand cash. When payment 
has been made, she gives a deed of her own person to her 
purchaser, imprinting the outline of her hand upon the 



IX WINTER COSTUME 



52 KOREA 

document, in place of a seal, and for the purpose of 
supplying easy means of identification. Although this 
transaction does not receive the cognisance of the Govern- 
ment, the contract is binding. 

As the law provides that the daughter of a slave must 
take the place of her parent, should she die, it is plainly in 
the interests of the owner to promote the marriage of his 
slaves. Slaves who receive compensation for their services 
are entitled to marry whom they please ; quarters are pro- 
vided for the couple. The master of the house, however, 
has no claim upon the services of the husband. The slave 
who voluntarily assigns herself to slavery and receives no 
price for her services may not marry without consent. In 
these cases it is not an unusual custom for her master, in 
the course of a few years, to restore her liberty. 

Hitherto, the position of the Korean woman has been so 
humble that her education has been unnecessary. Save 
among those who belong to the less reputable classes, the 
literary and artistic faculties are left uncultivated. Among 
the courtesans, however, the mental abilities are trained and 
developed with a view to making them brilliant and enter- 
taining companions. The one sign of their profession is 
the culture, the charm, and the scope of their attainments. 
These " leaves of sunlight," a feature of public life in Korea, 
stand apart in a class of their own. They are called gisaing, 
and correspond to the geisha of Japan ; the duties, environ- 
ment, and mode of existence of the two are almost identical. 
Officially, they are attached to a department of Government, 
and are controlled by a bureau of their own, in common 
with the Court musicians. They are supported from the 
national treasury, and they are in evidence at official dinners 
and all palace entertainments. They read and recite ; they 



STANDARDS OF MORALITY 



S3 



dance and sing ; they become accomplished artists and 
musicians. They dress with exceptional taste ; they move 
with exceeding grace ; they are delicate in appearance, 
very frail and very human, 
very tender, sympathetic, 
and imaginative. By their 
artistic and intellectual 
endowment, the dancing 
girls, ironically enough, 
are debarred from the 
positions for which their 
talents so peculiarly fit 
them. They may move 
through, and as a fact do 
live in, the highest society. 
They are met at the houses 
of the most distinguished ; 
they may be selected as 
the concubines of the Em- 
peror, become the femmes 
d'amour of a prince, the 
puppets of the noble. A 
man of breeding may not 

marry them, however, although they typify everything that is 
brightest, liveliest, and most beautiful. Amongst their own 
sex, their reputation is in accordance with their standard of 
morality, a distinction being made between those whose 
careers are embellished with the quasi chastity of a con- 
cubine, and those who are identified with the more pre- 
tentious display of the mere prostitute. 

In the hope that their children may achieve that success 
which will ensure their support in their old age, parents, 




A PALACE CONCUBINE 



54 KOREA 

when stricken with poverty, dedicate their daughters to the 
career of a gisalug, much as they apprentice their sons to 
that of a eunuch. The girls are chosen for the perfect 
regularity of their features. Their freedom from blemish, 
when first selected, is essential. They are usually pretty, 
elegant, and dainty. It is almost certain that they are the 
prettiest women in Korea, and, although the order is exten- 
sive and the class is gathered from all over the kingdom, the 
most beautiful and accomplished gisaing come from Pyong- 
an. The arts and graces in which they are so carefully 
educated, procure their elevation to positions in the house- 
holds of their protectors, superior to that which is held by 
the legal wife. As a consequence, Korean folk-lore abounds 
with stories of the strife and wifely lamentation arising from 
the ardent and prolonged devotion of husbands to girls, 
whom fate prevents their taking to a closer union. The 
women are slight of stature, with diminutive, pretty feet, 
and graceful, shapely hands. They are quiet and unas- 
suming in their manner. Their smile is bright ; their 
deportment modest, their appearance winsome. They wear 
upon state occasions voluminous, silk-gauze skirts of 
variegated hues ; a diaphanous silken jacket, with long 
loose sleeves, extending beyond the hands, protects the 
shoulders ; jewelled girdles, pressing their naked breasts, 
sustain their draperies. An elaborate, heavy and artificial 
head-dress of black hair, twisted in plaits and decorated 
with many silver ornaments, is worn. The music of the 
dance is plaintive and the song of the dancer somewhat 
melancholy. Many movements are executed in stockinged 
feet ; the dances are quite free from indelicacy and sugges- 
tiveness. Indeed, several are curiously pleasing. 

Upon one occasion, Yi-cha-snn, the brother of the 



56 KOREA 

Emperor, invited me to watch the dress rehearsal of an 
approaching Palace festival. Although this exceptional 
consideration was shown me unsolicited, I found it quite 
impossible to secure permission to photograph the gliding, 
graceful figures of the dancers. When my chair deposited 
me at the yamen the dance was already in progress. The 
chairs of the officials and chattering groups of the servants 
of the dancers rilled the compound ; soldiers of the Im- 
perial Guard kept watch before the gates. The air was 
filled with the tremulous notes of the pipes and viols, whose 
plaintive screaming was punctuated with the booming of 
drums. Within a building, the walls of which were open 
to the air, the rows of dancers were visible as they swayed 
slowly and almost imperceptibly with the music. 

From the dais where my host was sitting the dance was 
radiant with colour. There were eighteen performers, 
grouped in three equal divisions, and, as the streaming 
sunshine played upon the shimmering surface of their 
dresses, the lithe and graceful figures of the dancers floated 
in the brilliant reflection of a sea of sparkling light. The 
dance was almost without motion, so slowly were its 
fantastic figures developed. Never once were their arms 
dropped from their horizontal position, nor did the size and 
weight of their head-dresses appear to fatigue the little 
women. Very slowly, the seated band gave forth the air. 
Very slowly, the dancers moved in the open space before us, 
their arms upraised, their gauze and silken draperies clustering 
round them, their hair piled high, and held in its curious 
shape by many jewelled and enamelled pins, which sparkled 
in the sunshine. The air was solemn ; and, as if the move- 
ment were ceremonial, their voices rose and fell in a lingering 
harmony of passionate expression. At times, the three sets 



A DRESS REHEARSAL 57 

came together, the hues of the silken skirts blending in one 
vivid blaze of barbaric splendour. Then, as another move- 
ment succeeded, the eighteen figures broke apart and, poised 
upon their toes, in stately and measured unison circled 
round the floor, their arms rising and falling, their bodies 
bending and swaying, in dreamy undulation. 

The dance epitomised the poetry and grace of human 
motion. The dainty attitudes of the performers had a gentle 
delicacy which was delightful. The long silken robes re- 
vealed a singular grace of deportment, and one looked upon 
dancers who were clothed from head to foot, not naked, 
brazen and unashamed, like those of our own burlesque, 
with infinite relief and infinite satisfaction. There was 
power and purpose in their movements ; artistic subtlety in 
their poses. Their flowing robes emphasised the simplicity 
of their gestures ; the pallor of their faces was unconcealed ; 
their glances were timid ; their manner modest. The strange 
eerie notes of the curious instruments, the fluctuating 
cadence of the song, the gliding motion of the dancers, the 
dazzling sheen of the silks, the vivid colours of the skirts, 
the flush of flesh beneath the silken shoulder-coats, appealed 
to one silently and signally, stirring the emotions with an 
enthusiasm which was irrepressible. 

The fascinating figures approached softly, smoothly 
sliding ; and, as they glided slowly forward, the song of the 
music welled into passionate lamentation. The character 
of the dance changed. No longer advancing, the dancers 
moved in time to the beating of the drums ; rotating circles 
of colour, their arms swaying, their bodies swinging back- 
wards and forwards, as their retreating footsteps took them 
from us. The little figures seemed unconscious of their 
art ; the musicians ignorant of the qualities of their wailing. 

H 



5 8 KOREA 

Nevertheless, the masterly restraint of the band, the con- 
ception, skill and execution of the dancers, made up a 
triumph of technique. 

As the dance swept to its climax, nothing so accentuated 
the admiration of the audience as their perfect stillness. 
From the outer courts came for a brief instant the clatter of 
servants and the screams of angry stallions. Threatening 
glances quickly hushed the slaves, nothing breaking the 
magnetism of the dance for long. The dance ended, it 
became the turn of others to rehearse their individual con- 
tributions, while those who were now free sat chatting with 
my host, eating sweets, smoking cigarettes, cigars, or 
affecting the long native pipe. Many, discarding their head- 
dresses, lay upon their sitting mats, their eyes closed in 
momentary rest as their servants fanned them. His High- 
ness apparently appreciated the familiarity with which they 
treated him. In the enjoyment and encouragement of their 
little jokes he squeezed their cheeks and pinched their arms, 
as he sat among them. 




CHAPTER V 

The Court of Korea — The Emperor and his Chancellor — The 
Empress and some Palace factions 



tA study of the morals and per- 
sonalities of the Court of Korea 
throws no little light upon the. 
interesting phases of its contem- 
porary condition, even affording 
some explanation of the political 
differences and difficulties which, 
if now in the past, may be expected 
none the less to crop up again. 
Since the dastardly murder by the 
Japanese of the Queen, who held 
the reins of Government with 
strong hands, the power of the 
Emperor has been controlled by 
one or other of the Palace factions. 
His Majesty is now almost a cypher 
in the management of his Empire. 
Nominally, the Emperor of Korea 
enjoys the prerogative and independence of an autocrat ; in 
reality he is in the hands of that party whose intrigues for 
the time being may have given them the upper hand. He 




HIS IMPERIAL HIGHNESS, 
PRINCE YI-CHA-SUN 



6c 



KOREA 



is the slave of the superb immoralities of his women. When 
he breaks away from their gentle thraldom, in the endeavour 
to free himself from their political associations, his exceed- 
ingly able and unscrupulous Minister, Yi Yong-ik, the 

chief of the Household 
Bureau, rules him with a 
rod of iron. It matters not 
in what direction the will 
of his Majesty should lie, 
it is certain to be thwarted 
with the connivance of 
Palace concubines or by 
the direct bribery of Minis- 
ters. If the King dared, 
Yi Yong-ik would be de- 
graded at once. No pre- 
vious Minister has proved 
so successful, however, in 
supplying the Court with 
money ; and, as the Em- 
peror dreads an empty trea- 
sury, he maintains him in 
his confidence. 

In the position of Minis- 
ter of Finance and Treasurer 
of the Imperial Palace, which he once filled, Yi Yong-ik 
opposed foreign supervision of the revenues of the Mari- 
time Customs. Acting in concert with the Russian and 
French Ministers, he was primarily responsible for the most 
recent crisis in the affairs of Mr. McLeavy Brown, the Chief 
Comptroller and Executive Administrator of the Korean 
Maritime Customs. At a time when the Imperial household 




HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE EMPEROR 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS CHANCELLOR 61 

was in need of money, Yi Yong-ik created the desire for a 
loan by withholding the revenue of the Privy Purse from his 
master. It was explained to his Majesty that his financial 
embarrassments were due to the action of his Chief Com- 
missioner of Customs in locking up the proceeds of the 
Customs. Supported by the influence of the Russian and 
French Ministers, Yi Yong-ik suggested that the Customs 
revenue should become the security for the loan which was 
being pressed upon him by a French syndicate. When 
Mr. McLeavy Brown heard of the transaction between the 
agent of the syndicate and the Minister of Finance, he at 
once repudiated any hypothecation of the revenues of the 
Customs for such a purpose. In co-operation with the 
French and Russian Ministers, Yi Yong-ik, upon a variety 
of pretexts, attempted to bring about the peremptory dis- 
missal of the Chief Commissioner of the Customs. He 
was foiled in this by the unexpected demonstration of a 
British Squadron in Chemulpo Harbour, and the attendant 
preparation and embarkation of a field force at Wei-hai-wei. 
Upon the withdrawal of the guarantee of the Customs 
revenue the Franco-Russian scheme collapsed, the agent 
of the interested syndicate returning to Europe to complain 
of the action of the British Minister and the Chief Commis- 
sioner of Customs. 

Yi Yong-ik is an instance, together with that afforded by 
Lady Om, of a Korean of most humble birth rising to a 
position of great importance in the administration of the 
country. A man of low parentage, he attached himself to 
the fortunes of Min Yeung-ik, gradually forcing himself 
upon the notice of his patron, as also of his sovereign. The 
services which Yi Yong-ik rendered to the throne during the 
entente of 1884, when he was a chair coolie in the service of 



62 KOREA 

the late Queen, found responsive echo in the memories of 
their Majesties, who procured his preferment. He was 
advanced to a position in which his admitted sagacity, 
strength of mind, and shrewdness were of material assist- 
ance, continuing to rise until he became Minister of Finance. 
He has thus made his own position from very insignificant 
beginnings, and, in justice to him, it may be said that he 
serves the interests of his Majesty to the best of his ability. 
Nevertheless he is in turn feared and detested. Numerous 
attempts have been made against him, while, within the last 
few months, failing to take his life by poisoned food, some 
unknown enemies discharged an infernal machine in the 
room at the Seoul Hospital where he was confined during 
an attack of sickness. Alternately upon the crest of the 
wave or in the backwash of the tide, Yi Yong-ik remains the 
most enduring personality in the Court. The Russian in- 
fluence is behind him, while the Emperor also is secretly 
upon the side of his energetic Minister. At a moment, 
recently, when the opposition against him became too 
strong, Yi Yong-ik took refuge upon a Russian warship, 
which at once carried him to Port Arthur. From this 
retreat he negotiated for a safe return with his Majesty, 
who at once granted him a strong escort. Yi Yong-ik then 
returned and, proceeding at once to the Palace, quickly 
reinstated himself in the good graces of his master, thus 
again thwarting the plans and secret machinations of his 
opponents. 

His Majesty the Emperor of Korea was fifty years old in 
September 1900, being called to the throne in 1864, when 
he was thirteen. He was married at the age of fifteen to the 
Princess Min,a lady of birth, of the same age as her husband. 
It was she who was wantonly assassinated by the Japanese 






THE EMPEROR 63 

in 1895. The son of this union is the Crown Prince. His 
Majesty is somewhat short of stature, as compared with the 
average height of the Korean. He is only five feet four inches. 
His face is pleasant ; impassive in repose, brightening with 
an engaging smile when in conversation. His voice is soft 
and pleasing to the ear ; he talks with easy assurance, some 
vivacity and nervous energy. 

During an audience with a foreigner, the manner of the 
Emperor has an air of frankness and singular bonhomie. He 
talks with every one, pointing his remarks with graceful 
gestures, and interrupting his sentences with melodious and 
infectious laughter. The mark of the Emperor's favour is 
the receipt of a fan. When a foreigner is presented to him, 
it is customary to find upon the conclusion of the audience 
a small parcel awaiting his acceptance, containing a few 
paper fans and sometimes a roll of silk. The Emperor 
rarely exceeds this limit to his Imperial patronage, for, like 
the rest of his people, he cannot afford to be unduly 
generous. 

The dress of his Majesty upon these occasions is remark- 
able for its impressive and Imperial grandeur. A long golden 
silk robe of state, embroidered with gold braid, with a girdle 
of golden cord, edged with a heavy gold fringe, covers him. 
While the magnificence of this attire excites envy in the 
heart of any one who sees it, the ease and dignity of his 
carriage suggest his complete unconsciousness of the im- 
pression which he is creating in the minds of his guests. 

The Emperor is ignorant of W T estern languages, but he 
is an earnest student of those educational works which have 
been translated for the purposes of the schools he has estab- 
lished in his capital. In this way he has become singularly 
well informed upon many subjects. He speaks and writes 



64 KOREA 

Chinese with fluency, and he is a most profound student of the 
history of his own people. The method and system of his 
rule is based on the thesis of his own personal supervision 
of all public business. If there be some little difference 




THE HALL OF AUDIENCE, SEOUL 



between the Utopia of his intentions and the actual achieve- 
ment of his government, it is impossible to deny his assiduity 
and perseverance. He is a kind, amiable, and merciful 
potentate, desirous of the advancement of his country. He 
works at night, continuing the sessions and conferences 
with his Ministers until after dawn. He has faults, many, 
according to the Western standards by which I have no 
intention of judging him. He has also many virtues ; and, 
he receives, and deserves, the sympathy of all foreigners 
in the vast works of reform which he has encouraged in 
his dominions. 






THE EMPEROR AND LADY OM 6$ 

His Majesty is progressive. In view of the number and 
magnitude of the developments which have taken place 
under his rule, it is impossible to credit him with any of 
those prejudices against Western innovations which have dis- 
tinguished the East from time immemorial. There are special 
schools in Seoul for teaching English, French, German, 
Russian, Chinese and Japanese ; there is a School of Law, a 
School of Engineering and Science, a School of Medicine, and 
a Military Academy. These are but a few minor indications 
of the freedom of his rule, the sure sign of a later prosperity. 
He is tolerant of missionaries, and he is said to favour their 
activities. It is certain that his rule permits great liberty of 
action, while it is distinguished by extraordinary immunity 
from persecution. His reign is in happy contrast with the 
inter-regnum of the Regent, Tai Won Kun, who regarded 
priests and converts as a pest, and who eradicated them to 
the best of his ability. 

As the autocratic monarch of a country, whose oldest 
associations are opposed to all external interference, the 
attitude of his Majesty has been instinct with the most 
humane principles, w T ith great integrity of purpose and 
much enlightenment. It cannot be said that his reign has 
been a failure, or that it has not tended to the benefit of his 
people and his realms. Certain evil practices still exist, but 
his faults as an Emperor are, to a great extent, due to the 
worthlessness of his officials. Indeed, he frequently receives 
the condemnation which should be passed upon the minds 
and morals of his Ministers. 

Saving Yi Yong-ik, the most important figure in the 
Court is the mature and elderly Lady Om, the wife of his 
Majesty. In a Court which is abandoned to every phase of 
Eastern immorality, it is a little disappointing to find that 



66 KOREA 

the first lady in the land no longer possesses those charms 
of face and figure, which should explain her position. There 
is no doubt that the Lady Om is a clever woman. She is 
most remarkably astute in her management of the Emperor, 
whose profound attachment to her is a curious paradox. 
Lady Om is mature, fat, and feebly, if freely, frolicsome. 
Her face is pitted with small-pox ; her teeth are uneven ; 
her skin is of a saffron tint. There is some suggestion of a 
squint in her dark eyes, a possible reminder of the pest 
which afflicts all Koreans. She paints very little and she 
eschews garlic. Her domination of the Emperor is 
wonderful. Except at rare intervals, and then only when 
the assent of Lady Om to the visit of a new beauty has 
been given, he has no eye for any other woman. Neverthe- 
less, the Lady Om has not always been a Palace beauty ; 
she was not always the shining light of the Imperial harem. 
Her amours have made Korean history ; only two of her 
five children belong, to the Emperor ; yet one of these may 
become the future occupant of his father's throne. 

In her maiden days, she became the mistress of a China- 
man ; tiring of him she passed into the grace and favour of 
a Cabinet Minister. He introduced her to the service of the 
late Queen, whose acquaintance she made at the house of 
her father, a Palace attendant of low degree, with quarters 
within the walls. By the time that she became a woman in 
the service of her Majesty, the Lady Om had presented a 
child to each of her respective partners. As the virtue of 
the women in attendance upon the Queen had of necessity 
to be assured, her previous admirers kept their counsel for 
the safety of their own heads. The Lady Om boasted 
abilities which distinguished her among the other maids 
in attendance. She sang to perfection, danced with con- 



A PALACE OF INTRIGUE 67 

summate grace ; painted with no little delicacy and 
originality, and could read, write, and speak Chinese and 
Korean with agreeable fluency. The Queen took a fancy 
to her apparently 
innocent, guileless, 
and very lovable 
attendant. Imitat- 
ing the excellent ex- 
ample of his illus- 
trious spouse, his 
Majesty sealed the 
rape of virtue with 
a kingly smile. The 
Queen grew rest- 
less. Suspicion, 
confirmed by ap- 
pearances, deve- 
loped into cer- 
tainty, andthe Lady 
Om fled from the 
Palace to escape 
the anger and jeal- 
ousy of her late 
mistress. The third 

child, of whom Lady Om became the mother, was born 
beyond the capital, in the place of refuge where the 
errant Griselle had taken up her abode. Meanwhile, Lady 
Om avoided the parental establishment within the pur- 
lieus of the Palace. Upon the death of her third child 
she sought the protection of another high official. With 
him she dwelt in safety, peace, and happiness, be- 
coming, through her strange faculty of presenting each 




THF.IR IMPERIAL HIGHNESSES THE CROWN PRINCE 
AND PRINCESS 



68 KOREA 

admirer with evidences of her innocence, the subject of 
some ribald songs. Since her return to Imperial favour, 
these verses have been suppressed, and may not be uttered 
upon pain of emasculation. 

It now seemed as if the Lady Om had settled clown, but 
the events of 1895, culminating in the foul murder of the = 
late Queen, prompted her to renew her acquaintance with 
the unhappy Emperor. She became a Palace attendant 
again, and at once cleverly succeeded in bringing herself 
before the Imperial notice. She was sweetly sympathetic 
towards his Majesty ; her commiseration, her tenderness, 
her suppliant air of injured innocence, almost immediately 
captivated him. She was raised to the rank of an Imperial 
concubine ; money was showered upon her, and she 
proceeded immediately to exercise an influence over the 
Emperor which has never relaxed. She became a power at 
Court and once again a mother. Her influence is now 
directed towards the definite maintenance of her own in- 
terests. She wishes her son to be the future Emperor ; 
she is now living in a palace, and, since she is the apple 
of his Majesty's eye, she permits nothing to endanger the 
stakes for which she is playing. Recently Kim Yueng-chun, 
an official of importance but of precarious position, wishing 
to secure himself in the consideration of his sovereign, 
introduced a new beauty, whose purity and loveliness were 
unquestioned. Lady Om heard of Lady Kang and said 
nothing. Within two weeks, however, the Minister was 
removed upon some small pretext, and subsequently 
tortured, mutilated, and strangled. The Lady Kang found 
that if the mills of Lady Om grind slowly, they grind ex- 
ceedingly small. 

Lady Om is a lover of ancient customs ; by ancient 






SOME PALACE FACTIONS 



69 



customs she made her way ; by ancient customs she pro- 
poses to keep it. Her power increases daily, and a stately 
edifice has been erected in the centre of the capital to 
commemorate her virtues. A few months before her 
marriage to the Emperor, when there was ample indi- 
cation of the trend of events, the Emperor published 
a decree which declared that Lady Om had become an 
Imperial concubine of the First Class. This did not give 
her Imperial status ; but it conferred upon her son Imperial 
rank. By reason of this decree, however, he will, at some 
future date, ascend the throne, while it opened a way for 
Lady Om to secure recognition in Korea as the lawful 
spouse of her royal admirer. 




A MINOR ROYALTY 



CHAPTER VI 

The passing of the Emperor — An Imperial pageant 

The Emperor passed one morning in procession from the 
Imperial Palace, which adjoins the British Legation upon 
its south wall, to the newly erected Temple of Ancestors, the 
eastern wall of which marks the limits of the Legation 
grounds. The festival was in no way public ; yet, such was 
the splendour of the pageant, that this progress of eight 
hundred yards, leaving the Palace by its south gate 
and entering again by the eastern gate, cost over 
two thousand pounds. No warning of the Imperial plans 
was given to his Majesty's subjects. Just before the hour 
of his departure, however, the Emperor expressed the hope 
that the British Minister and myself would be interested in 
the procession, inviting us to watch the spectacle from the 
Legation domain. Information of the movements of the 
Court was, of course, bruited abroad. Large crowds 
gathered around the precincts of the Palace and the Temple; 
attracted by the efforts which the soldiers were making to 
form a cordon round the scene. Hundreds of soldiers were 
told off to guard the approaches to the Temple. One 
battalion of infantry was installed in the grounds of the 
Imperial Korean Customs, another occupied the gates and 
garden of the British Legation. 



THE PASSING OF THE EMPEROR 71 

Despite the fact that the route of the procession lay 
between the high walls of a private passage, some twenty-five 
feet wide, leading from the offices of the Customs to the 
grounds of the Legation, into which a postern gate gives 
access from the Palace, and through which no Korean is 
ever permitted to pass, soldiers, one pace apart, faced one 
another upon opposite sides of the road. The public, seeing 
nothing of the ceremony, gathered such consolation as was 
possible from the spectacle of the masses of infantry occupy- 
ing the Palace Square. Occasional glimpses of Palace 
officials were also secured, and the blatant discord of 
triumphant song, with which the private musicians of the 
Emperor greeted his arrival and the passing of the Court, 
fell faintly upon expectant ears. It is, however, the proud 
privilege of the Koreans to pay for these promenades of the 
Court. If they did not see the august countenance of his 
Majesty upon this occasion, it is to be hoped that they derived 
some consolation for the heavy taxation, with which they 
are burdened, from the brave show made by the brand new 
uniforms of the troops. The plumes, gold lace and swords 
of the officers, and the rifles and bayonets of the men would 
have fascinated any crowd. Until the moment of departure, 
the army lay around upon the road, sleeping in the dust, or 
squatted in the shade upon the steps of buildings, partaking 
of breakfast — a decomposed mass of sun-dried, raw fish and 
rice which stunk horribly, but which they devoured greedily, 
tearing it into shreds with their fingers. Occasionally a loyal 
citizen brought them water or passed round a pipe, taking 
the opportunity to run his finger along the edge of a 
bayonet, or over the surface of a coat. 

The Emperor was passing in this festive state to pay 
homage to the tablets of his ancestors upon their trans- 



72 



KOREA 



ference to a fresh abode. The gorgeousness of the pageant 
burst upon the colourless monotony of the capital with 
all the violent splendour and vivid beauty of an Arabian 
sunset. It was right and proper that the magnificence of the 




WITHIN THE PALACE GROUNDS, SEOUL 



celebration should be unrestricted. The importance of the 
occasion was without parallel in the festivals of the year. The 
momentary brilliancy of the picture, which centres round 
the usually secluded sovereign at such a moment, implied the 
glorification of a dynasty, which has already occupied the 
throne of Korea for more than five centuries. Quaint and 
stately as the pageant was, the splendour of a barbaric 
medievalism is best seen in processions of a more public 
character. 

The procession started from the Palace about 10 a.m. 
It presented elements strangely suggestive of burlesque, 
romance, and the humours of a pantomime. Korean 



THE PASSING OF THE EMPEROR 73 

infantry, in blue uniforms, headed the order of the advance 
from the Palace, their modern dress and smart accoutre- 
ments forming the one link between the middle ages and the 
twentieth century, to which the function could lay claim. 
After them, running, stumbling, and chattering noisily, passed 
a mob of Palace attendants in fantastic hats and costumes 
of various degrees of brilliancy, long silken robes of blue, 
green, yellow, red and orange, carrying staves bound with 
embroidered streamers of coloured ribbons. A line of 
bannermen followed, bearing red silken flags with blue 
characters, also hurrying and stumbling forward ; then 
passed a file of pipes and drums, the men in yellow robes 
with the shimmer of gold about them, streamers fluttering 
from the pipes, ribbons decking the drums. Men bearing 
arrows in leather frames and flags of green, red and yellow, 
were next. Soldiers in ancient costume, wonderful to be- 
hold, men with bells and jingling cymbals, pipes and fans, 
Palace eunuchs in Court dress, detachments of dismounted 
cavalry, their horses not appearing, but their riders garbed 
in voluminous shirts, their hats covered with feathers and 
wearing high boots, swept along, amiable and foolish of 
aspect. 

The procession, which preceded the passing of the 
Emperor, seemed almost unending. At every moment the 
sea of colour broke into waves of every imaginable hue, 
as one motley crowd of retainers, servants, musicians and 
officials gave place to another. Important and imposing 
officials in high-crowned hats, adorned with crimson tassels 
festooned with bunches of feathers and fastened by a string 
of amber beads round the throat, were pushed along, silent 
and helpless. Their dresses were glaring combinations of 
red and blue and orange ; they were supported by men 

K 



74 



KOREA 



in green gauze coats and followed by other signal marks 
of Korean grandeur, more banners and bannermen, flags 
decorated with feathers, servants carrying boxes of refresh- 




1MPERIAL THRONE, SEOUL 



ments, small tables, pipes and fire. These were succeeded 
by others just as imposing, helpless and beautiful to behold ; 
the breasts and backs of their superb robes were decorated 
with satin squares, embroidered, after the style of China, 
with the symbols of their offices— birds for civilians, tigers 
for those of military rank. Statesmen in their official robes 
gave place to others in winged hats or lofty mitres, gleaming 



AN IMPERIAL PAGEANT 75 

with tinsel. The Commander-in-Chief, with Japanese, 
Chinese, and Korean decorations flashing in the sunshine 
from the breast of his modern uniform, followed by his 
staff in red coats heavily braided with gold lace, and with 
white aigrettes waving in their hats, passed, marching 
proudly at the head of the Imperial body-guard. The final 
stream of colour showed nobles in blue and green silk 
gauze ; Imperial servants with robes of yellow silk, their 
hats decorated with rosettes ; more mediaeval costumes, 
of original colour and quaint conception ; a greater multi- 
tude of waving flags ; a group of silken-clad standard- 
bearers bearing the Imperial yellow silk flag, the Imperial 
umbrella, and other insignia. Then a final frantic beating 
of drums, a horrid jangling of bells, a fearful screaming 
of pipes, a riot of imperious discord mingled with the voices 
of the officials shouting orders and the curses of the eunuchs, 
and finally the van of the Imperial^ cortege appeared, in 
a blaze of streaming yellow light, amid a sudden silence 
in which one could hear the heart-beats of one's neighbour. 
The voices died away ; the scraping of hurried footsteps 
alone was audible as the Imperial chair of state, canopied 
with yellow silk richly tasselled, screened with delicate 
silken panels of the same colour and bearing wings to keep 
off the sun, was rushed swiftly and smoothly forward. 
Thirty-two Imperial runners, clad in yellow, with double 
mitres upon their heads, bore aloft upon their shoulders the 
sacred and august person of his Imperial Majesty, the 
Emperor, to his place of sacrifice and worship in his 
Temple of Ancestors. 

The business of the clay had now arrived. Presently 
the Emperor's bearers stopped, and he alighted at the 
entrance of a tent of yellow silk, which had been erected at 



76 KOREA 

the angle of the Palace and Legation walls, within the shade 
of trees in the Legation garden. It was in this spot that 
his Majesty had given us permission to watch the passing of 
his Court. It was here, within a moment of his arrival, that 
the retinue of the Crown Prince, his chair of red silk borne 
upon the shoulders of sixteen bearers, stopped to set down 
its princely burden. The Emperor and the Crown Prince 
passed within the tent, changing the Imperial yellow and 
crimson robes of state in which they had first appeared for 
the sacrificial yellow silk, and emerging a little later to make 
obeisance before the passing of the tablets of their ancestors. 
The character of the procession was now modified. Soldiers 
and courtiers, nobles and dignitaries of the Court, gave 
place to priests clothed in the yellow robes of sacrifice, and 
chanting in solemn tones the words of benediction. The 
screaming of pipes took on fresh vigour, rising and falling 
in shrill cadence, until the air vibrated with conflicting 
discords. Men, solemn of visage, their yellow skirts sway- 
ing with the frenzy of their movements, swept past the 
throne, a surge of song rising to their lips expressive of the 
passionate despair and lamentation which (should have) 
filled their souls. They disappeared, a mocking echo 
haunting their retreating footsteps. Again the music of 
the priests broke forth in noisy triumph, heralding the 
presence of the twelve ancestral tablets, each carried by 
eight men in chairs of sacrificial yellow, which demanded 
the homage of the expectant pair. One came, moving 
slowly in a burst of solemn song. The Emperor, his son 
the Crown Prince, and the baby Prince, the offspring of 
Lady Om, dropped to the earth. For a moment they rested 
upon their bended knees, with crossed hands, in a reverent 
attitude, as their own proud heads sank to the dust before 



78 KOREA 

the gilded burdens in the sacred chairs. Twelve times they 
passed before the Imperial group ; twelve times each Prince 
humbled himself, the circle of supporting nobles and 
attendant eunuchs assisting them. 

It was the first appearance of the baby Prince. Scarcely 
old enough to toddle, he was of necessity aided in his devo- 
tions by the chief eunuch, who pressed him to his knees, 
placing a restraining hand upon his head, a guiding hand 
upon his shoulder. The babe followed everything with 
wide-open, innocent eyes, becoming tired and fidgety before 
the ceremony had concluded. The demeanour of the 
Imperial pair showed every sign of reverence and devotion. 
The absolute sincerity of their humiliation impressed those 
who watched the scene with feelings of astonishment. The 
emotion of the Emperor was plainly manifest ; he had 
paled visibly, his whole being centred upon the objects of 
his veneration. When the ceremony had ended the twelve 
chairs turned towards the Ancestral Temple, and, as the 
Emperor ensconced himself in his yellow chair of state, 
and the Crown Prince, following the example of his father, 
mounted to his seat of crimson silk, the babe rode upon 
the back of the chief eunuch, crowing with boyish and 
infantile delight. Once again the flourish of the musicians, 
the rattle of the drums, the screaming of the fifes and pipes 
broke forth. The procession was moving, priests and 
nobles, courtiers and Palace servants following in the train 
of the Emperor. 

The procession of the Emperor pressed forward to the 
temple, the tablets halting before the Temple of Ancestors, 
while the Emperor and the two Princes proceeded to the 
Hall of Sacrifice, where offerings of live sheep were burnt, 
and baskets of fruit and flowers presented before the altars. 






AN IMPERIAL PAGEANT 



79 



The spirits of the illustrious dead thus propitiated, the 
Emperor returned to the sacred chairs, once again paying 
his devotion to the tablets. One by one each was borne 
from its chair to the receptacle prepared for its future keep- 




L^ai^^^^^ 



AN IMPERIAL PAVILION, SEOUL 



^^".^; : ;.i^ 



ing. Panels of yellow silk screened them ; no eye was 
permitted to gaze upon them, nor any hand to touch them, 
as each, wrapped in its inviolate sanctity of yellow silk, 
passed from its chair of state to its holy place. Priests 
attended them ; the throne followed in their wake, the 
entire Court, the highest nobles and statesmen in the land, 
bowed down to them. An atmosphere at once devotional 
and filial prevailed, for the cult of Ancestor Worship epito- 
mises the loftiest aspirations of the Korean. It governs the 
actions of a parent towards his child ; controls the conduct 
of a child towards its parent. 

The ceremony over, the scene within the Temple became 



8o KOREA 

more brilliant. Ladies from the Palace appeared. Cakes 
and wine were produced, and the Emperor and Crown 
Prince resumed their robes of state, discarding the sacri- 
ficial garments. The Lady Om came to congratulate the 
Emperor, attended by a retinue of gaily-dressed Palace 
women and slaves, their hair piled high, their shimmering 
silken skirts trailing in graceful folds about them. The Court 
musicians played; the Court singers sang, and the prettiest 
women swayed in a joyous dance. Within the private 
apartments of the sovereign there was feasting and merri- 
ment. His Majesty was himself again. The world, which 
he had shown us, and in which we had been so interested, 
changed quickly. Looking at the disorderly scramble of 
the return, the scene that had passed before us seemed 
like a dream. Yet, for a few hours, we had been living 
in the shadow of the middle ages. 






CHAPTER VII 

Sketch of Mr. McLeavy Brown — The Question of the Customs — 
The suggested Loan 

It is perhaps curious that the man who has held the Korean 
State together, during the past few years, should be British — 
one of those sons of the Empire, upon whose work the 
present generation looks with satisfaction. It is nearly thirty 
years ago since Mr. McLeavy Brown made his appearance 
in China. To-day, among Englishmen whose reputations 
are associated with the problems and politics of the Far 
East, his name stands out almost as prominently as that of 
his colleague, Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector-General of the 
Imperial Maritime Customs of China. Seconded from the 
Chinese Customs for special duty, Mr. McLeavy Brown has 
devoted many years of his life to the financial difficulties 
which beset Korea, holding at first the dual position of 
Treasurer-General and Chief Commissioner of Customs. 
Within the last few years, Mr. McLeavy Brown's activity has 
been confined to the administration of the Customs Service, 
where, though deprived of the unique and influential posi- 
tion rilled by him as financial adviser to the Emperor, he 
has succeeded in accomplishing invaluable work for the 
country. 

A man may be judged by the character of those who 

L 



82 



KOREA 



gather round him, and when, weary of the carping and 
pettiness that prevail in Seoul, one turns to the service which 
Air. McLeavy Brown represents, it is to find his colleagues 
animated by a quiet enthusiasm, and a spirit of generous 

devotion, and loyalty 
to his principles and 
policy. Unfortu- 
nately, his supporters 
are not in the capital, 
and he can derive no 
encouragement from 
their sympathy. Their 
sphere of work lies 
in the treaty ports, 
but he is content to 
remain in Seoul al- 
ways fighting, in grim 
and stoical silence, 
against the absurd 
extravagances of the 
Court, and the in- 
So long as he per- 




Mr. T. McLeavy Brown, C.M.G., LL.D. 



famous corruption of the officials 
severes in this duty, just so long will he be hampered and 
thwarted in all quarters. The very opposition which he 
encounters, however, is no unemphatic testimony to the 
exceeding and exceptional value of the work which he has 
already achieved, in the face of every obstacle to systematic 
progress and reform, that the craft and cunning of official- 
dom can devise. 

The animus which prevails against Mr. McLeavy Brown 
occasions, to those who are new to Seoul, sentiments of 
profound astonishment and dismay, but after the first feeling 









SKETCH OF MR. McLEAVY BROWN 83 

of strangeness has worn off, and it becomes possible to grasp 
the peculiar and complex variety of people who have gathered 
in the capital of the Hermit Kingdom, the causes responsible 
for the existence of such an opinion are very plainly revealed. 
Apart from the Legations, there are few foreigners, not even 
excepting the representatives of the very miscellaneous 
collection of American missionaries, who have not come to 
Seoul from motives of self-interest, which bring them into 
collision, directly or indirectly, with the Chief Commissioner 
of the Customs in his official capacity. If no longer the 
financial adviser of the Government, his counsel is sought 
as occasion arises ; although his advice is not necessarily 
followed, it frequently happens that the influence of the Chief 
Commissioner of the Customs becomes the controlling factor 
in the negotiations between a bewildered and impecunious 
Court and an importunate concession-hunter. Moreover, 
cases may occur when an upright regard for the interests 
of the kingdom makes it incumbent upon Mr. McLeavy 
Brown to urge the rejection of proposals, which have 
not come through the channels of his own office. Such a 
variation of the orthodox method of application may happen 
any day in Seoul. While this attempted exercise of a 
power of veto does not endear him to the seeker after 
Ministerial " considerations," the impersonal spirit, in which 
he discharges the functions of his office, atones for any 
exceptional interference he may deem necessary. Much of 
the feeling which actuates foreigners and officials against 
Air. McLeavy Brown, therefore, is based upon a thoughtless 
disregard for the elementary facts in his very delicate position. 
There is, of course, no suggestion against his honour. In a 
community, accustomed to the financial backsliding which 
appears to be an inevitable preliminary to any concession, 



84 KOREA 

the exponent of a policy of economy and straight dealing 
always provokes the strongest animosity in those about 
him. 

A more emotional man than the Chief Commissioner 
would have tired of the thankless part which he is compelled 
to play. Years of laborious work, and the habit, which 
he has acquired in the isolated state in which he lives, of 
concentrating his energies upon the subject before him, 
enable him to school himself against the trials of his 
situation. He treats every one with unfailing frankness and 
directness, but the kindly instincts which illuminate his 
private life are submerged in the cares and worry of his 
official position. During business hours he becomes the 
cold, irresponsive machine of State ; his whole imagination 
and ingenuity focused upon the necessity of checking 
those who would incite their Sovereign to acts subversive of 
the principles of financial rectitude, which Mr. McLeavy 
Brown would fain see encouraged. 

Only those who have had experience of Korea can 
thoroughly appreciate the fertility of the Korean official 
in inventing new schemes by which public money may 
be appropriated to his private uses. If the condition 
of the finances had not already made the practice of 
economy imperative, this tendency would justify the deter- 
mination to deny the means of peculation to officials. 
Mr. McLeavy Brown has therefore brought into accord the 
necessity of economy, which underlies the existence of the 
Customs, with the principles of the system upon which he 
administers the service. It is, in the matter of the foreign 
staff of the Korean Customs, impossible for Korean officials 
to take exception to the standard of payment by which 
the services of these foreigners are compensated. If this all- 






SKETCH OF MR. McLEAVY BROWN 85 

pervading retrenchment makes employment in the Korean 
Customs exceptionally unsatisfactory to its minor foreign 
officials, a very clear reason for the low payment is never- 
theless found in the narrow margin which divides the total 
revenue from the total expenditure. Moreover, the Chief 
Commissioner is himself the chief sufferer. 

Mr. McLeavy Brown has long been an enigma in Seoul. 
Although the variety of his gifts and the hospitable quality 
of his nature make him an important element in the life 
of the capital, there are few who care to study the man and 
his movements intelligently. Mr. McLeavy Brown possesses 
many moods ; and the isolation in which he is placed, by 
the absence of any sympathy between himself and the 
people among whom he lives, renders the circumstances of 
his position almost pathetic. When, in 1896, he refused to 
accept any salary for the hopeless and onerous post of 
Financial Comptroller of the Imperial Treasury, the foreign 
community of Seoul were astounded. This refusal to 
burden still further the resources of an exhausted country 
is, however, an index to the guiding principles of his life. 
There is no dissembling in his transactions. Although 
he may temper an ill wind with promises, the continuity 
of his decision is maintained, and he attempts to carry 
out independently and honestly anything to which he may 
have pledged himself. He is indefatigable in his work ; 
indomitable in his perseverance, cool and determined. A 
barrister by profession, he devotes himself to the minutiae 
of his service with an attention which discloses his legal 
training. In his estimate of a person, no less than a 
situation, he seldom errs. 

In his official life he represents a type of Englishman 
that is rapidly disappearing from our public services. His 



86 KOREA 

private life reflects the culture and the grace of an attractive 
personality. They say, in Seoul, that Mr. McLeavy Brown 
is more skilful as a diplomatist than as an administrator ; 
and his brilliant conversational powers give some colour 
to the assertion. Upon arrival in Seoul, newcomers are apt 
to hear that " Brown is a walking encyclopaedia." He 
speaks, reads and writes with equal facility French, German, 
Italian and Chinese. It will be remembered that he is in the 
service of the Korean Government, a sphere of utility and 
activity which demands fluency in yet another language. His 
library attests the breadth of his culture ; it numbers some 
7000 volumes, and fills the walls of the rooms and corridors 
of his house at Seoul from floor to ceiling. Boxes of new 
books arrive by every mail. When he reads them it is 
difficult to conjecture. At night, as one strolls from the 
British Legation to the Station Hotel, the lights in his 
study window may be seen burning brightly. He is believed 
to sit up with his books very often until dawn. It would be 
typical of this silent self-contained man if he found in 
the pleasures of his library the antidote to much which 
takes place in Seoul. 

When his Imperial Majesty was pleased to demand the 
private residence and official premises of his Chief Com- 
missioner of Customs, there was much perturbation in 
Seoul about the disturbances, which were expected to take 
place upon the expiration of the Emperor's ultimatum. 
Preparations were made for such a contingency, and four 
British men-of-war under Admiral Bruce appeared at 
Chemulpo. The eventful day passed quietly, however, and 
excitement gave place to no small amount of disappoint- 
ment among the European community. Mr. McLeavy 
Brown remained in possession of his usual quarters, the 



THE QUESTION OF THE CUSTOMS 87 

whole question of a change in the location of the Customs 
having been reserved by the officials of the Court. Un- 
fortunately, the demands of the Court could only be con- 
tested in so far as they continued to be peremptory in their 
nature. When, later, due warning was given to the Chief 
Commissioner and a fresh domicile appointed, as a servant 
of the Crown Mr. McLeavy Brown was unable to ignore 
the mandate. Prior to this notice, the Emperor had insisted, 
very foolishly, upon the immediate evacuation of the Customs 
buildings, a demand compliance with which was impossible, 
and in resistance to which Mr. McLeavy Brown was very 
properly supported by Mr. J. G. Gubbins, C.M.G., then 
acting Consul-General to Korea. 

After the murder of the Queen in 1895, the Korean Court 
fled from the old Palace, in the least healthy part of the city, 
to the vicinity of the British and American Legations, and 
built there a new Palace in a safer and more pleasant 
locality. But the new Palace is overlooked by the British 
Legation and by the residence of Mr. McLeavy Brown. 
The Emperor, spurred on by his eunuchs, had cast envious 
glances on the dwellings of these foreigners, and not 
unnaturally decided that these properties would make a 
very pleasing addition to the Palace which he is now con- 
structing. Unhappily, there was reason to suspect that, in 
turning the Chief Commissioner out of his house, the 
Emperor, or rather Lady Om, who desired the house, and 
Yi Yong-ik, who coveted the Customs, hoped at the same 
time to expel him from the country. That the attempt to 
oust Mr. McLeavy Brown from his home really aimed at re- 
moving him from office can hardly be doubted. When the 
house question rose, Mr. McLeavy Brown was given exactly 
two days notice — from the 19th to the 21st March — to 



88 



KOREA 



move out. When he refused to accept such an intimation, 
force was threatened, but averted by the intervention of the 
British charge d'affaires. In the end, Mr. McLeavy Brown's 
compound was entered by a few hangers-on of the palace, 



1 




• Mi 


■' .LIT' - w 


• tMe 





BRITISH LEGATION, SEOUL 



who were easily ejected by the orders of the Chief Commis- 
sioner of the Customs. These creatures then tore their 
clothes and ran crying to the Palace that they had been 
beaten and otherwise shamefully ill-used. As a result, the 
dismissal of the Chief Commissioner was demanded. Mr. 
Gubbins took the matter up with great promptness, and 
agreed that, upon certain conditions, which included a 
proper notice to quit and the choice of new sites, the 
Emperor might acquire both the British Legation and the 
Customs buildings, which were apparently necessary to the 
completion of the new Palace. As it happens, the British 
Legation, which directly overlooks the half-finished Palace, 
is far more necessary to the Emperor's peace of mind than 
the Customs buildings, which are upon a lower level. It is 



THE QUESTION OF THE CUSTOMS 89 

obvious, therefore, that the attack was directed more against 
Mr. McLeavy Brown, by a posse of Court officials, than 
against his house. Nevertheless, it has always been apparent, 
since the Emperor came over to the shelter of the Legations, 
that there could be no sufficient accommodation for him in 
the Foreign quarter without encroaching on the grounds of 
the Legations. The Legations have a delightful situation 
on the only real eminence in the central part of Seoul, and 
the Emperor, now that he has come, must either be content 
with a malarial situation, at the feet, as it were, of the 
foreigners, or absorb the Legation grounds and send their 
tenants elsewhere. Already he has displaced the German 
Minister. Sooner or later the British, and perhaps the 
American, will go too ; and the Palace will then cover the 
whole hill, save the site of the Russian Legation, whose 
flag will still wave a little above the Imperial standard of 
Korea. 

No sooner had a settlement been attained upon the 
question at issue between the Court and the Chief Com- 
missioner of the Customs, than there came the announce- 
ment that a loan of five million yen had been arranged 
between the Government and the Yunnan Syndicate, upon 
the security of the revenue of the Customs. This at once 
compromised the authority of the Chief Commissioner, 
who, by virtue of his office, exercises absolute control over 
the revenues. It should be understood that the loan had 
nothing whatever to do with the question of Mr. McLeavy 
Brown's house. The original proposals were first mooted a 
year before the more recent trouble. The Yunnan Syndi- 
cate, a French company registered in London, is supported 
almost wholly by French capital. It is generally under- 
stood that the main object of the loan was to obtain a 



90 KOREA 

weapon by which unlimited concessions might be extorted. 
The manoeuvre was not altogether successful. The Yunnan 
Syndicate, by the terms of the agreement, bound itself to 
lend the Korean Government five million yen in gold and 
silver bullion at 5J per cent., the loan to be subject to a 
charge of 10 per cent, for commission, and to be repaid in 
instalments stretching over twenty-five years. In case the 
Korean Government were unable to repay the money out of 
the ordinary sources of revenue, the Customs revenue had 
been pledged as security. The agreement was signed by 
Pak, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Yi Yong-ik, the 
Minister of Finance, on the one hand, and by M. Cazalis, 
agent of the company, and M. Colin de Plancy, French 
Minister at Seoul, on the other. The document left many 
points open. It was particularly vague in that no date 
was fixed for the delivery of the gold and silver bullion at 
Chemulpo. It was therefore argued, with obvious reason, 
that the Syndicate might turn this oversight to account by 
simply refusing to deliver the money until certain con- 
cessions had been granted. 

M. Cazalis, the agent of the Yunnan Syndicate, Limited, 
was indignant that he should find himself opposed both by 
Mr. Gubbins and Mr. McLeavy Brown, who, according to 
his view, followed the Japanese lead in suspecting Russian 
intrigue. There is no reason, however, to believe that the 
British charge d'affaires based his objections upon any such 
grounds. The scheme of the Yunnan Syndicate was quite 
iniquitous enough to meet with opposition for prima facie 
reasons. Here are the facts of the case as stated by the 
representative of the company. The Yunnan Syndicate, 
without consulting the Chief Commissioner of the Customs, 
the Japanese Minister, or the British Minister, secretly per- 



THE SUGGESTED LOAN 91 

suaded the Korean Government to borrow five million yen 
in gold and silver bullion at 5J per cent., giving the Customs 
revenue as security. M. Cazalis argued that it was necessary 
to carry the matter through with secresy, because it would 
have been impossible to procure any signatures to the 
document, if the affair had been conducted publicly, with 
the full knowledge of the Chief Commissioner of the Customs. 
In other words, he admitted that the scheme was such as 
would never have commended itself to Mr. McLeavy Brown, 
who was absolutely impartial and without interest in the 
matter. 

In the meantime, it is as well to note that the loan aimed 
at creating a position for French interests in Korea. In 
view of t\ie attempt of Russia to acquire an open and ice-free 
port for her own purposes, and the distinct understanding 
existing between the French and Russian Governments with 
regard to Russia's Asiatic policy, Great Britain could not 
disregard any possible development. At that moment French 
activity in Korea may not have involved any direct menace 
to our own interests. Nevertheless, any combination of 
circumstances which gave to French and Russian influence 
a predominance in the administration of the country, could 
scarcely fail to develop incidents, against which it is our 
manifest duty to guard. And it is perhaps curious, more- 
over, that the man who was the prime mover in the intrigue 
to dispossess Mr. McLeavy Brown of his house should 
have been the very one to arrange the loan from the Yunnan 
Syndicate with M. Cazalis. 

If the wisdom and necessity of a loan of five millions 
had been assured, there are many directions in Korea in 
which such a sum could be most profitably spent. With 
the revenue of the Customs as the guarantee, there would 



92 KOREA 

have been no difficulty in securing more advantageous con- 
ditions than those of the contract. The terms were pre- 
posterous. Subsidiary proposals, as to which no conclusion 
was then reached, further demanded the lease of the Pyong- 
yang coal-mines, the control of forty-four additional mines, 
the purchase of French mining plant, the engagement of 
French mining experts, and involved minor stipulations, 
which were in themselves objectionable to the Court, while 
giving to French interests in Korea an unwarranted and 
undesirable preponderance. The uses to which it was 
alleged that the loan would be put were precisely those 
which are actually most necessary. Unanimous support 
for the loan would have been won if there had been the 
slightest reason to hope for the faithful observance by the 
Court of its pledges. Unhappily, there is no prospect that 
any very appreciable proportion of the loan will be ex- 
pended upon the objects on which such stress was laid, 
objects which are potent and vital factors in the economic 
development of the kingdom. The loan was handed over 
in bullion ; in the ratio of one-third silver and two- 
thirds gold, ostensibly that a National bank may be inaugu- 
rated and the present nickel coinage replaced by gold and 
silver tokens. This is eminently laudable. If the small 
dimensions of the loan rendered such a thing feasible, 
the conversion of the national money would be of incalcul- 
able benefit to the financial credit of the Government and 
the country in general. But it must be remembered that one 
of the reasons for contracting the last Japanese loan was to 
provide a nickel coinage exchangeable at par with the 
Japanese and Mexican silver tokens. Unhappily, this 
same coinage is now at a discount of 120 per cent, for 
one hundred Japanese cents gold. Examination has proved 






THE SUGGESTED LOAN 93 

that the intrinsic value of one dollar nickel of Korean five 
cent pieces — at that time the only unit struck — is only one- 
eighteenth of its face value as against the Japanese gold 
standards of currency. The balance was " squeezed." It 
is likewise impossible to make provision for the legitimate 
and honourable expenditure of this new loan. Quite 
recently there has been a large issue of one-cent copper 
pieces. These coins sustain a better ratio to the yen than 
the nickel currency ; as a matter of fact the intrinsic value 
of the copper coinage is so much greater than the nickel 
money that there is a standard of exchange between them. 
At present the nickel, compared with the copper, token is 
quoted at 12 per cent, discount.* 




THE IMPERIAL LIBRARY, SEOUL 



CHAPTER VIII 



Foreign action in Korea — Exhausted Exchequer — Taxes — 
Budgets — Debased currency — The Dai Ichi ginko — Dishonest 
officials 



The events, which have led up to the present complex con- 
dition of Korean politics, originated in the attempt of the 
Russians to secure control of the Customs and Finance of 
the Empire in the autumn of 1897. As * ne effort of the 
Russian Minister of that time, M. de Speyer, was only in 
part successful, his immediate successor, M. Matunine, the 
present representative, M. Pavloff, and his confrere of the 
French Legation, M.Colin de Plancy,have in the interval con- 
sistently directed their diplomacy to the completion of the 
task. Their inability to force compliance with their demands 
upon the Korean Government has embittered their action 






FOREIGN ACTION IN KOREA 95 

towards the British Minister and the Chief Commissioner 
of the Customs. In the prosecution of a work, at once 
discreditable and inspired by very petty prejudices, no 
single diplomatic device, which could serve their purpose, 
has been omitted from their policy. The check, which the 
plans of the Franco-Russian-Korean party received in con- 
sequence of British action has only retarded their develop- 
ment for the moment. It does not perceptibly relieve the 
situation, nor make the office of the Chief Commissioner 
more comfortable or the path of the British Minister more 
easy to follow. Indeed, it is quite certain that the opposition 
of the Russian and French Ministers to British activity will 
become more vigorous in the future. 

The assistance accorded by the British Government to 
Mr. Gubbins during the recent crisis, has done much to 
dispel from the minds of the Koreans those illusions which 
our past indifference had created. It is improbable that 
quite identical methods will be employed in any future 
attempt of the Court to oust Mr. McLeavy Brown from his 
position. If the Court gave way in the face of the British 
demonstration, the tact and consideration for the interests 
of both parties, which Mr. Gubbins subsequently displayed, 
materially contributed to the restoration of the status quo. 
Upon the other hand, the apathy of the British Govern- 
ment in failing to protect Mr. McLeavy Brown when 
he was deprived of the Comptrollership of the Finances 
at the instigation of the Russian Minister, in 1897, was 
of course conducive to the late disturbances. The 
two offices are so closely related, and the masterful and 
aggressive spirit of the Franco-Russian policy is such, 
that the accession of a Russian or French nominee 
to the Chief Commissionership of the Customs would 



96 KOREA 

imply their subsequent fusion to the complete obliter- 
ation of British influence. This, of course, should be 
impossible ; and it would be, if the British Government 
would awaken to the importance of maintaining unimpaired 
its prestige in Korea. We have little material interest in 
Korea, but it must not be forgotten that our position in the 
kingdom should be superior to that of France, and equal 
to that of Russia If it were not that France is the partisan 
and ally of Russia in Korea, as well as elsewhere, there 
would be no occasion to do aught but support benevolently 
the policy of Japan, without unnecessarily endorsing the 
aggressiveness which distinguishes the attitude of the Island 
Empire to its neighbour. But if we wish to preserve our 
position we must put a little more vigour into our policy, 
and, while maintaining our working agreement with Japan, 
proceed to guarantee the integrity of our own interests. 
These would be best served by insisting upon the retention 
of a British nominee in the supervision of the Korean 
Maritime Customs. Our action in this respect would meet 
with the unqualified approval of Japan and the United 
States of America, whose trading interests, equally with our 
own, justify predominance in this control. 

The financial embarrassment of the Korean Government, 
at the present time, is the outcome of the abnormal extrava- 
gance of the Court. Anything which would tend to increase 
the load of debt with which the Emperor encumbers the 
dwindling resources of the national wealth, is neither politic 
nor desirable. The sources of the Imperial revenue resemble 
in lesser degree those which prevail in China. There are 
the Land Tax, paid no longer in grain, which returned four 
and a half of the seven million yen odd, composing the total 
domestic revenue in 190 1 ; a House Tax, assessed capriciously 



TAXES AND BUDGETS 97 

and evaded by the practice of a little discreet bribery ; the net 
Customs revenue, which was returned for 190 1 at more than 
one million and a quarter yen (1,325,414 yen ; £135,303 
sterling at exchange of 2s. ohd.), and the proceeds of the 
various concessions, monopolies, mines, and mint, and 
the sums derived from such miscellaneous and irregular 
taxation as may suggest itself to that keen-witted Minister Yi 
Yong-ik. 

Taxation is heavy and relentless. The list of the more 
important objects, upon which an impost is levied, includes, 
in addition to the land, customs and house taxes, salt, 
tobacco, fish, fur, lumber lands, minerals, ginseng, minting, 
cargo-boats, guilds, licences, paper, cowhides, pawnbroking, 
&c. In more recent times certain taxes have become 
obsolete. But this list, however, does not by any means 
exhaust the means by which the Emperor contrives to make 
his subjects " pay the piper." Quite subsidiary to the 
regular cases, but of great value in themselves, are the 
donations which are sent up from various parts of the 
country for the gratification of the Throne. These gifts are 
very comprehensive, and embrace the fruits of the land as 
well as the products of the sea. Little escapes the schedule 
of donations, and no intervention can bring about the 
discontinuation of the custom, while a failure on the part of 
a prefect to attend to this matter would result speedily 
enough in the loss of his office. 

The Budget for the year 1901 was assessed at nine 
million yen odd, of which one million yen odd was 
dedicated to Imperial expenditure, and a trifle more than 
this sum paid to the Imperial Privy Purse. The esti- 
mated difference between the revenue and the expenditure 
of the same year was the small sum of 775 dollars. 

N 



98 KOREA 

The Budget for 1902 provided for seven and a half 
million yen ; the estimated revenue was placed approxi- 
mately at the same figures, the balance between expenditure 
and revenue being 653 yen. It will be seen, therefore, that 
there is little reason for the financial difficulties in which 
the Throne is placed. If it were not that his Majesty frittered 
away his income upon the purchase of land, the adornment 
of his Palaces and his person, his relatives, his women, and 
the perpetual entertainment of his Court, this chronic im- 
poverishment of his exchequer would not exist. Moreover, 
at least one quarter of his revenue is appropriated by the 
native officials through whose hands it passes. Under these 
circumstances he has never been averse from accepting the 
assistance of interested parties ; but this ill-omened relief 
does not free the country from its burden of mortgage and 
taxation. 

The disbursements upon the different departments engage 
the revenue to a degree which is out of all relation to the 
precise utility or importance of any of these fantastic bureaux. 
The War Office claimed in 1901, in round figures, more than 
three and one half million yen, and the Foreign Office a 
quarter of a million yen, the Finance Department three- 
quarters of a million yen, the Palace a little more than 
one million yen, and the Home Department a little less 
than that amount. One million yen is roughly .£100,000. 
The amount paid to the War Office for 1902 was, in round 
figures, very nearly three million yen ; to the Foreign Office, 
something in excess of a quarter of a million yen ; to the 
Finance Department, rather more than half a million yen. 
The Departments of Law, Agriculture, Police, Educa- 
tion, and Communications in this highly expensive and 
totally inefficient administration, all make good their claims 



BUDGETS 



99 



upon the Budget, until there is nothing left and very 
little to show for this lavish distribution of the public 
moneys. 
The Budget for 1903 I give in detail : — 

The total revenue is estimated at $10,766,115. The total expendi- 
ture is estimated at $10,765,491. This leaves a balance of $624. 



REVENUE 



Land Tax . . . $7,603,020 
House Tax . . . 460,295 
Miscellaneous . . 210,000 
Balance from 1902 (in- 
cluding surplus from 
loan) . . . 1,142,800 



Customs Duties 
Various Imposts 
Mint 



850,000 
150,000 
350,000 



10,766, 



EXPENDITURE 



The Emperor's private purse 
Sacrifices .... 



$817,361 
186,639 

1,004,000 



The Imperial Household 

Railway Bureau . $21,980 

Palace Police . . 118,645 

Police in Open Ports 69,917 

North-west Railway . 22,882 

Ceremonial Bureau . 17,608 

Mining Bureau . . 10,000 

261,022 
The Old Man Bureau 24,026 
Bureau of Generals . 65,853 

The Cabinet , . 38,730 



The Home Department 

Office . . . 34,624 
Mayor's Office . . 6,144 
Provincial Govern- 
ments . . . 91,862 
Prefectural Govern- 
ments, 2nd class . 52,674 
Quelpart . . . 4,222 
Prefectures . . 778,325 
Imperial Hospital . 7*632 
Vaccination Bureau . 3,354 
Travelling Expenses 730 
Prefectural Sacrifices 866 

980,533 



L.cfC. 



IOO 

The Foreign Department 

Office . . . 26,024 

Superintendents of 

Trade . . . 5M54 

Foreign Representa- 
tives . . . 201,020 



KOREA 

Educational Department 



278,198 



The Finance Department 



Office 

Tax Collectors . 

Mint . 

Payment on Debt 

Pensions . 

Transportation . 



War Department 



Office 
Soldiers 



Law Department 

Office 

Supreme Court 
Mayoralty Court 
Prefectural Courts 



53,9™ 
141,600 

280,000 

989,250 

1,956 

200,000 

1,666.716 



50,651 
4,072,931 

4,123,582 



31,603 

15,686 

8,162 

1,251 



Police Bureau 

Office 

Seoul Prison 
Policemen 
Border Police, &c. 
Travelling Expense, &c. 



56,702 



252,857 

32,650 

51,462 

23,762 

600 

36>,33i 



Office 

Calendar . 
Schools in Seoul 

„ „ Country . 
Subsidies for Private 

Schools . 
Students Abroad 



24,822 

6,022 
89,969 
22,580 

5,43o 
15,920 



164,943 
Agricultural Department 



Office 

General Expense 



Council 
Office 

Imperial Body-Guard 
Office 

Bureau of Decorations 
Office 



38,060 
8,240 

46,300 



18,580 



58,099 



20,993 



Telegraph and Post 

Office 

General Expense 



Bureau of Surveys 

Office 
Survevs 



23,640 
438,295 

461,935 



21,018 
50,000 

71,018 



DEBASED CURRENCY 



101 



Incidentals 

Road and other Re 

pairs 
Repairs in Country 
Arrest of Robbers 
Relief Work . 
Burial of Destitute 



35>°°° 
10,000 

500 
5,000 

300 



Miscellaneous . 


480 


Police at Mines, &c. . 


1,840 


Shrinkage . 


3,120 



Emergency Fund 



56,240 



1,015,000 



Steps have been taken from time to time by the 
Foreign Representatives to improve the finances of the 
country. Upon one occasion seven reforms were re- 
commended, and the report subsequently presented to 
his Majesty. In the course of an inquiry it transpired 
that, in addition to nickels which were minted by the Govern- 
ment, there were more than twenty- five separate and distinct 
brands of nickels then circulating in Korea. Until recent 
years the counterfeiting of Korean currency has not been 
remunerative. The old time cash was of such small value, 
and the combined cost of the metal and work together so 
nearly equalled the face value of the true token, that the 
risk was not commensurate with the profit. A single nickel 
of the present currency, however, is equivalent to twenty- 
five of the old coinage, and as the net cost of their 
manufacture is less than a cent and a half a-piece, it will 
be seen that there is some incentive to the production 
of false money. The number of counterfeit nickels is rapidly 
increasing, and permits to coin were at one time freely issued 
by the Government to private individuals. Nickel is openly 
imported through the Customs ; spurious coins in large 
quantities are brought by almost every steamer from Japan 
and smuggled into the country. The Government care 
only for the profit which they derive from their illegitimate 
transaction, and, ignoring the permanent injury which they 



102 KOREA 

are doing to the solvency of the country, adopt every 
means to circulate these depreciated coins. Until quite 
lately the circulation of nickel pieces was confined to the 
capital and the vicinity of two or three Treaty ports, the old 
copper cash being current elsewhere. With a view to 
extending their use, however, the magistrates throughout 
the Empire were ordered to accept redemption of taxes only 
in this currency. But as wages are generally paid in the 
nickel currency, and as the purchasing power of the nickel 
Korean dollar is less than half it was with copper cash, 
while the standard of payment remains the same, the bulk 
of the nation is paid no better than formerly, while the 
purchasing power of their earnings is infinitely less. There 
appears no prospect of any immediate improvement, 
since the Government contracted for the issue of a 
further forty million nickels. With this accomplished, the 
face value of the coinage in circulation, as against the 
Japanese gold yen, will be fourteen million yen, or nearly 
one million and a half pounds sterling. There is, of 
course, no gold or silver reserve with which to redeem 
this gigantic sum. 

To such a pitch has this condition of affairs attained that 
in Chemulpo quotations are current for : — 

(i) Government nickels ; 

(2) First-class counterfeits ; 

(3) Medium counterfeits; and 

(4) Those passable only after dark. 

There is little wonder, therefore, that the currency question 
is engaging the earnest attention of the foreign repre- 
sentatives. Awakening at last to some sense of its responsi- 
bilities in this matter, the Japanese Government issued, on 
November 7th, 1902, an Imperial ordinance, which came 



THE DAI ICHI GINKO 103 

into force on the 15th, with a view to deterring Japanese from 
making spurious coins or despatching such nickels of 
Japanese manufacture to Korea. The punishment to which 
offenders against the ordinance are liable is imprisonment 
for a period not exceeding one year or a fine of not more 
than 200 yen (^20 85. 4J.). This enactment gave the 
Japanese customs officers power to prevent the counterfeit 
coins from being shipped abroad, and enabled the Korean 
customs authorities to institute proceedings against Japanese 
found guilty of importing nickels of this description. From 
January 22nd, 1902, when the first seizure of the year took 
place, until the close of December, 3,573,138 pieces (coins 
and blanks), the total face value being .£18,191, were con- 
fiscated by the Chemulpo customs officers. The largest 
quantity taken at one time was 739,000 pieces, face value 
-£3772, detected on August 19th aboard a Korean junk, the 
second largest haul was made on September 8th in a cargo- 
boat, and consisted of 530,090 pieces, with a face value of 
£2512. 

With a view to provide a remedy against the deplorable 
condition of the Korean currency, a Japanese Bank, Dai 
Ichi Ginko (No. I. Bank), which is under direction of Baron 
Shibusawa, decided, with the support of the Japanese 
Government, to undertake the issue of notes by which a 
promise was made to pay the bearer on demand in Japanese 
currency at any of its branches in Korea. The Dai Ichi 
Ginko possesses branches at all the larger Treaty ports, as 
well as in Seoul, and is, perhaps, the most important com- 
mercial agent in the country. The Japanese Consular 
officers are authorised to supervise the issue and to receive 
statements of the circulation and reserves twice a month. 
They are also entrusted with certain discretionary powers 



104 KOREA 

as to limiting the number of notes in use. The denomina- 
tion of the notes are i yen (25. Owd.), 5 yen (105. 2^d.), 
10 yen (.£1 os. $d.), and on May 10th, 1902, there appeared 
the first issue of notes of 1 yen value. Those of 5 yen were 
put in circulation on September 20th following. The 10 yen 
notes were not issued until a later time. 

On February 28th, 1903, the circulation of Dai Ichi 
Ginko notes and the reserves held for their redemption stood 
as follows : 

Amount. 
Branch. In circulation. Reserves. 

Chemulpo 18,927 ... 18,927 

Fusan 24,568 ... 19,701 

Seoul 1,894 ■•■ I >894 

Mok-po ..... 14,406 ... 12,250 

Total .... 59,795 ... 52,772 

This action upon the part of the Dai Ichi Ginko gave 
rise to vehement opposition from the Korean Government. 
Although the issue of the notes was duly authorised by the 
Emperor, the Minister of Foreign Affairs persistently ob- 
structed the circulation of the notes. Upon September nth, 
1902, an order was issued from the Foreign Office, upon the 
authority of the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, pro- 
hibiting the use of the notes by Koreans upon grounds 
which impugned the credit of the entire proceeding. This 
order was inspired, of course, by Yi Yong-ik, and when a 
few months later, on January 8th, 1903, Cho Pyong-sik — 
then Foreign Minister — removed the prohibition, Yi Yong-ik 
at once contrived the dismissal of his too complaisant col- 
league. The Foreign Office was now without its Chancellor, 
and Yi Yong-ik immediately set himself to revoke the 
charter of the bank. After declaring that the Japanese 



DISHONEST OFFICIALS 105 

paper-money would be the ruin of the country and alleging 
that the compensation claims against the Seoul-Fusan Rail- 
way Company were purposely paid in those notes with a 
view to an ultimate declaration of bankruptcy upon behalf of 
the bank, Yi Yong-ik summoned on January 24th a meeting 
of the Pedlar's Guild, at which he forbade their acceptance 
of this paper-money. A few days later, February 1st, the 
Mayor of Seoul posted an edict throughout the city giving 
effect to this prohibition and, at the same time, threatening 
with most severe penalties any one who used the notes or 
in any way assisted to circulate them. The Finance De- 
partment then circulated the edict throughout the provinces, 
whereupon an immediate run upon the bank ensued. Three 
days later, upon February 4th, the Acting Japanese Minister 
threatened the Government with the demand of an indemnity 
and a number of mining and railway concessions in com- 
pensation for the injury occasioned the bank, unless the 
obnoxious measure was withdrawn. After considerable 
discussion and various meetings, the Korean authorities 
agreed to withdraw all obstruction and to publish 
throughout the Empire their recognition of the existence 
of the bank. From that day the validity of the position of 
the Dai Ichi Ginko has been unquestioned. 

The exactions and dishonesty of the officials impose a 
perpetual drain upon the national exchequer. In the 
removal of this one great evil, another serious obstacle to a 
more flourishing financial condition would be surmounted. 
Unfortunately, the drought and famine of 1901, added to the 
decrease in the revenues of 1902, created a discrepancy of 
five million yen. If this deficit may be considered extra- 
ordinary, no extenuating circumstances can excuse the 
supplementary losses of revenue attributable to the personal 

o 



106 KOREA 

peculations of the officials. The stringency of the financial 
situation created by the famine drew attention to the very 
large deficits, with which many of the more important 
metropolitan and chief provincial officials were debited. 
The inability of any of these gentry to disgorge their ill- 
gotten gains resulted in their immediate prosecution at the 
instigation of the Finance Minister, Yi Yong-ik. Ministers 
of State, governors of provinces, prefects and inspectors 
were brought sharply to account by the execution, banish- 
ment, or imprisonment of many offenders. 

In such a moment the peculiar astuteness of Yi Yong-ik 
becomes conspicuous. While he visited any official who 
was compromised with the full penalties of the law, he 
himself executed, in his capacity of Minister of Finance, 
a bluff by which he netted almost half a million 
yen for the Imperial Treasury at one stroke. Yi 
Yong-ik arranged to buy the ginseng crop from the gin- 
seng farmers. This is a Government monopoly, and the 
price was arranged at eight dollars a pound for sixty-three 
thousand pounds' weight, dried and undried. When the 
time came to pay, and he had secured possession of the 
ginseng, Yi Yong-ik refused to give more than one dollar 
a pound, alleging that the ginseng growers had misrepre- 
sented the condition and weight of the consignment. In 
the meantime the ginseng was sold ; the money was appro- 
priated, and the balance in the Treasury correspondingly 
increased. 

Upon another occasion, at a time when the discount 
of nickel against yen gold was very low, Yi Yong-ik was 
instrumental in promoting the presentation of a gift of two 
million dollars Korean to the Emperor. By careful adjust- 
ment the value of the exchange, nickel currency as against yen 






DISHONEST OFFICIALS 



107 



gold, hardened twenty points the day after the presentation. 
It is, perhaps, unnecessary to point out that Yi Yong-ik 
occupied the interval in disposing of the difference to the 
advantage of his master. 




A 



A SEOUL GATE 



CHAPTER IX 

Education — Arts and graces — Penal code — Marriage and 
divorce — The rights of concubines — Position of children — 
Government 

Until the introduction of foreign methods of education, 
and the establishment of schools upon modern lines, no 
very promising manifestation of intellect distinguished the 
Koreans. Even now, a vague knowledge of the Chinese 
classics, which, in rare instances only can be considered a 
familiar acquaintanceship, sums up the acquirements of the 
cultured classes. The upper classes of both sexes make 
some pretence of understanding the literature and language 
of China ; but it is very seldom that the middle classes are 
able to read more than the mixed Chinese-Korean script of 
the native Press — in which the grammatical construction is 
purely Korean. 

Despite the prevailing ignorance of Chinese, the Mandarin 
dialect of China is considered the language of polite society. 
It is the medium of official communication at the Court : 
the majority of the foreigners in the service of the Govern- 
ment have also mastered its intricacies. It has been estimated 
by Professor Homer B. Hulbert, whose elaborate researches 
in Korean and Chinese philology make him a distinguished 
authority, that only one per cent, of the women of the upper 



EDUCATION 109 

class, who study Chinese, have any practical knowledge of 
it. Women of the middle and lower classes are ignorant of 
Chinese. Again, the proportion of upper class women who 
can read the Chinese classics is very small. It is probable 
that, out of an unselected assembly of Koreans, not more 
than five per cent, would be found who could take up a 
Chinese work and read it as glibly as a similar gathering of 
English might be expected to read ordinary Latin prose. 

In relation to the on-mun, the common script of Korea, 
there is, however, no such ignorance ; the upper and middle 
classes study their native writing with much intelligence. 
The language of Korea is altogether different from that of 
China and Japan ; it possesses an alphabet of its own, which 
at present consists of some twenty-five letters. It has been 
ascribed by certain Korean annals to the fifteenth century, 
A.D. 1447, when the King of Korea, resolving to assert his 
independence by abandoning the use of Chinese writing as 
the official medium of correspondence, invented an alphabet 
to suit the special requirements of the vernacular. Con- 
servatism proved too strong, however, and the new script 
was gradually relegated to the use of the lower classes, and 
of women and children. There is an extensive literature in 
the vernacular. It includes translations from the Chinese 
and Japanese classics ; historical works on modern and 
mediaeval Korea, books of travel and hunting, of poetry 
and correspondence, and a range of fiction, dealing with 
those phases of human nature that are common to man- 
kind. 

Many of these books are regularly studied by Korean 
women, ignorance of their contents being regarded with 
disdain by the women of the upper classes, and, in a less 
pronounced degree, by those of the middle classes. The 



no KOREA 

female attendants in the Palace are the readiest students 
and scholars of the vernacular, their positions at Court 
requiring them to prepare oii-miiu copies of Government 
orders, current news, and general gossip, for Imperial use. 
Books in native script are readily purchased by all con- 
ditions of Koreans, and taken out from circulating libraries. 
Many of the works are written in Chinese and in Korean 
upon alternate pages for those who can read only one 
or the other ; those who are quite illiterate learning the more 
important chapters by ear. A work, with which every 
woman is supposed to be intimate, is entitled The Three 
Principles of Conduct, the great divisions being (i) The 
Treatment of Parents ; (2) The Rearing of a Family ; (3) 
Housekeeping. Companion books with this volume, and 
of equal importance to Korean women, are the Five Rules 
of Conduct and the Five Volumes of Primary Literature, 
which, in spirit and contents, are almost identical. They 
deal with the relations between (1) Parent and Child ; (2) 
King and Subject ; (3) Husband and Wife ; (4) Old and 
Young ; (5) Friend and Friend. They contain also ex- 
hortations to virtue and learning. 

Apart from the direction and scope of female education 
in Korea, which I have now suggested, the theoretical study 
of the domestic arts is an invariable accompaniment of the 
more intricate studies. It is supplemented with much actual 
experiment. As a consequence, while the education of men 
of certain rank is confined to the books to which they are 
but indifferently attentive, a wide range of study exists for 
women apart from the writings and teachings of the 
accepted professors and classical authorities. Ornamental 
elegances, the tricks and traits of our drawing-room minxes, 
are ignored by the gentler classes, vocal music and dancing 



PENAL CODE in 

being the accomplishments of dancing-girls and detni- 
mondaines. The arts of embroidery, dressmaking, sewing, and 
weaving absorb their attention until they have gone through 
the gamut of domestic economy. Occasionally women 
of the upper class learn to play the kutnungo, an instru- 
ment some five feet long and one foot wide, bearing a faint 
resemblance to a zither and emitting a melancholy and 
discordant wail. There is one other stringed weapon, the 
nageum, but the awful screech of this unhappy viol over- 
whelms me, even in recollection. The usual and most 
simple amusement for the middle classes is the gentle, 
aimless stroll, for the purpose of "look see." Swinging, 
rope-games, dice, dominoes, and dolls find some favour 
as distractions. 

If some little improvement has become noticeable in 
educational matters under the enlightening influence of the 
missionaries, great fault must be found with the condition 
of the law. It is, of course, not always possible to graft 
upon the legal procedure of one country a system of 
administration which works well in another. Specific out- 
bursts of violence, arising from identical causes, assume 
different complexions when considered from the point of 
view of those who are proceeding to institute reforms. It 
may be submitted, further, that a certain element of 
barbarism in punishment is rendered necessary by the 
conditions of some countries, imposing a restraint upon 
a population which would scoff at punishment of a 
more civilised description. If exception may be taken 
to the penal code of Korea, it must be remembered that 
in the Far East the quality of justice is not tempered with 
mercy. Many punishments are still openly and frankly 
barbarous, while others are distinguished by their excep- 



H2 KOREA 

tional severity. Death by decapitation, mutilation, strangu- 
lation, or poison is now less frequent than formerly. 

Until within quite recent years it was the custom of 
Korean law to make the family of the arch-criminal suffer 
all his penalties with him. They are now exempted, and 
with the reforms introduced during the movement in 1895 
some attempt was made to abolish practices opposed to the 
spirit of progress. The table, which I append, shows the 
punishments dispensed for certain crimes. 

Treason, Man . . . Decapitated, together with male relatives to the 
fifth degree. Mother, wife, and daughter 
poisoned or reduced to slavery. 
Poisoned. 

Decapitated. Wife poisoned. 
Strangled or poisoned. 
Strangled or poisoned. Wife poisoned. 
Poisoned. 

Strangled, decapitated, or banished. W 7 ife re- 
duced to slavery, confiscation of all property. 
Desecration of graves Decapitated, together with male relatives to the 
fifth degree. Mother, wife, and daughter 
poisoned. 
Counterfeiting ... Strangulation or decapitation. Wife poisoned. 

Under the Korean law, no wife can obtain a legal disso- 
lution of her marriage. The privilege of divorce rests with 
the man ; among the upper classes it is uncommon. The 
wife, however, may leave her husband and accept the pro- 
tection of some relative, when, unless the husband can dis- 
prove her charges, he has no redress. Should the wife fail 
to establish her case against her husband, the cost of the 
marriage ceremony, a large sum usually, is refunded by her 
relatives. The law does not force a wife to cohabit with her 
husband ; nor, so far as it affects the woman, does it take 
any cognisance of the matter. A man may divorce his wife, 



Treason, Woman 
Murder, Man . 
Murder, Woman 
Arson, Man . . 
Arson, Woman 
Theft, Man . . 






MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 



113 



retaining the custody of the children in every case, upon 
statutory grounds, and upon the following additional counts : 
indolence, neglect of the prescribed sacrifices, theft, and 




JUSTICE IS NOT TEMPERED WITH MERCY 

shrewishness. There is no appeal against the charges of the 
husband for women of the upper classes, domestic disturb- 
ances being considered entirely reprehensible. Much greater 
latitude prevails among the lower orders, irregular unions 
of a most benign elasticity being preferred. Concubinage is 
a recognised institution, and one in which the lower, as well 
as the higher, classes indulge. 

The rights of the children of concubines vary according 
to the moral laxity of the class in which they are born. 
Among the upper classes they possess no claim against the 
estate of their progenitors ; entail ignores them, and they 
may not observe the family sacrifices. In the absence of 
legitimate issue, a son must be adopted for the purpose of 

p 



ii4 KOREA 

inheriting the properties of the family and of attending to 
the ancestral and funeral rites. Great stress is laid by the 
upper classes upon purity of descent ; among the middle 
and lower orders there is more indulgence. Save in the 
lowest classes, it is usual to maintain a separate establish- 
ment for each concubine. The fact that among the lower 
classes concubine and wife share the same house is re- 
sponsible for much of the unhappiness of Korean family 
life. In every case the position of the children of con- 
cubines corresponds with the status of the mother. 

Within recent years, considerable changes have taken 
place in the Government and in the administration of the 
law. Under the old system the despotic thesis of divine 
right was associated with many abuses. Justice was not 
tempered by mercy, and, in the suppression of crime, it was 
not always the guilty who suffered. The old system of 
government was modelled upon the principles of the Ming 
rule in China. The power of the sovereign was abso- 
lute in theory and in practice. He was assisted by the 
three principal officers of State and six administrative 
boards, to whom, so soon as the country was brought into 
contact with foreign nations, additional bureaux were added. 
Modifications in the spirit, or in the letter of the law have 
taken place from time to time at the instance of reformers. 
Before the ascendency of the Japanese came about, the 
principles and character of Korean law presented no very 
marked deviation from that which had been upheld in China 
through so many centuries. For a long time the intense 
conservatism of China reigned in Korea. The authority of 
the sovereign is more restricted to-day ; but in the hands of 
a less enlightened monarch it would be just as effective as 
ever against the interests of the country. Happily, however, 



GOVERNMENT 115 

the era of progressive reform, which illustrated the inaugu- 
ration of the Empire, continues. 

The Government is now vested in a Council of State, 
composed of a Chancellor, six Ministers, five Councillors, 
and a Chief Secretary. The will of the sovereign is, how- 




CHILDREN OF THE LOWER CLASS 



ever, supreme. The Departments of State are conducted by 
nine ministers, chief of whom is the Prime Minister, assisted 
in his Cabinet by the President of the Privy Council, the 
Ministers of the Household, of Foreign Affairs, Home 
Affairs, Finance, War, Law, Education, and Agriculture. 
With improved internal administration many of the abuses 
which existed under the old system have disappeared. 
There are still many grievances, and the working of the 
new machine of Stale cannot be said to give unalloyed 
satisfaction. Justice is still hedged about with bribery ; 
official corruptness admits of the venal purchase of office. 
Much outcry accompanies the sweeping of the Augean 
stables ; and, at present, the advantages of the improvements 
hardly justify the ecstatic jubilation by which their intro- 



n6 KOREA 

duction was greeted. It is early yet to prophesy ; but, if the 
honourable administration of the public departments can be 
obtained, there is no reason why success should not attend 
the innovation. The responsibility for the working of the 
administrative machine, however, rests, in the interval, 
entirely upon the shoulders of the foreign advisers. It 
remains to be seen, therefore, if the united services of these 
distinguished people can prolong in any degree the era of 
honest government in Korea. 



CHAPTER X 

Farmers — Farming and farm animals— Domestic industries — 
Products — Quality and character of food-stuffs 

The Koreans are an agricultural people, and most of the 
national industries are connected with agriculture. More 
than seventy per cent, of the population are farmers ; the 
carpenter, the blacksmith, and the stonemason spring directly 
from this class, combining a knowledge of the forge or work- 
shop with a life-long experience of husbandry. The school- 
master is usually the son of a yeoman-farmer ; the fisher- 
man owns a small holding which his wife tills while he is 
fishing. The farming classes participate in certain industries 
of the country ; the wives of the farmers raise the cotton, 
silk, linen, and grass-cloth of the nation, and they also 
convert the raw material into the finished fabrics. The 
sandals, mats, osier and wooden wares which figure so 
prominently in Korean households, are the work of the 
farming classes in their leisure moments. The officials, the 
yamen runners, the merchants, inn-keepers, miners, and 
junk-men are not of this order, but they are often closely 
connected with it. The Government exists on the revenue 
raised from agriculture ; the people live upon the fruits of the 
soil ; Korean officials govern whole communities given over 
to agricultural labour. The internal economy of the country 



u8 KOREA 

has been affiliated for centuries to the pursuits and problems 
of agriculture. Koreans are thus instinctively and intuitively 
agriculturists, and it is necessarily along these lines that the 
development of the country should in part progress. 

It is impossible not to be impressed by a force which 
works so laboriously, while it takes no rest save that variety 
which comes with the change of season. The peaceable, 
plodding farmer of Korea has his counterpart in his bull. The 
Korean peasant and his weary bull are made for one another. 
Without his ruminating partner, the work would be imprac- 
ticable. It drags the heavy plough through the deep mud 
of the rice-fields, and over the rough surface of the grain 
lands ; it carries loads of brick and wood to the market, 
and hauls the unwieldy market cart along the country roads. 
The two make a magnificent pair ; each is a beast of burden. 
The brutishness, lack of intelligence, and boorishness of the 
agricultural labourer in England is not quite reproduced in 
the Korean. The Korean farmer has of necessity to force 
himself to be patient. He is content to regard his sphere 
of utility in this world as one in which man must labour 
after the fashion of his animals, with no appreciable satis- 
faction to himself. 

Originally, if history speaks truly, the farmers of Korea 
were inclined to be masterful and independent. Indications 
of this earlier spirit are found nowadays in periodical pro- 
tests against the extortionate demands of local officials. 
These disturbances are isolated and infrequent, for, when 
once their spirits were crushed, the farmers developed 
into the present mild and inoffensive type. They submit to 
oppression and to the cruelty of the Yamen ; they endure 
every form of illegal taxation, and they ruin themselves to 
pay " squeezes," which exist only through their own humility. 



FARMERS 



119 



They dread the assumption of rank and the semblance 
of authority. Their fear of a disturbance is so great that, 
although they may murmur against the impositions of the 
magistrate, they continue to meet his demands. 

At the present day the farmer of Korea is the ideal child 




THE KOREAN AND HIS BULL 



of nature ; superstitious, simple, patient and ignorant. He 
is the slave of his work, and he moves no further from his 
village than the nearest market. He has a terrified belief in 
the existence of demons, spirits and dragons, whose dirty 
and grotesque counterfeits adorn his thatched hut. There 
are other characteristic traits in this great section of the 
national life. Their capacity for work is unlimited; they 
are seldom idle, and, unlike the mass of their countrymen, 
they have no sense of repose. As farmers, they have 
by instinct and tradition certain ideas and principles 
which are excellent in themselves. To the wayfarer 



n8 KOREA 

has been affiliated for centuries to the pursuits and problems 
of agriculture. Koreans are thus instinctively and intuitively 
agriculturists, and it is necessarily along these lines that the 
development of the country should in part progress. 

It is impossible not to be impressed by a force which 
works so laboriously, while it takes no rest save that variety 
which comes with the change of season. The peaceable, 
plodding farmer of Korea has his counterpart in his bull. The 
Korean peasant and his weary bull are made for one another. 
Without his ruminating partner, the work would be imprac- 
ticable. It drags the heavy plough through the deep mud 
of the rice-fields, and over the rough surface of the grain 
lands ; it carries loads of brick and wood to the market, 
and hauls the unwieldy market cart along the country roads. 
The two make a magnificent pair ; each is a beast of burden. 
The brutishness, lack of intelligence, and boorishness of the 
agricultural labourer in England is not quite reproduced in 
the Korean. The Korean farmer has of necessity to force 
himself to be patient. He is content to regard his sphere 
of utility in this world as one in which man must labour 
after the fashion of his animals, with no appreciable satis- 
faction to himself. 

Originally, if history speaks truly, the farmers of Korea 
were inclined to be masterful and independent. Indications 
of this earlier spirit are found nowadays in periodical pro- 
tests against the extortionate demands of local officials. 
These disturbances are isolated and infrequent, for, when 
once their spirits were crushed, the farmers developed 
into the present mild and inoffensive type. They submit to 
oppression and to the cruelty of the Yamcn ; they endure 
every form of illegal taxation, and they ruin themselves to 
pay " squeezes," which exist only through their own humility. 



FARMERS 119 

They dread the assumption of rank and the semblance 
of authority. Their fear of a disturbance is so great that, 
although they may murmur against the impositions of the 
magistrate, they continue to meet his demands. 

At the present day the farmer of Korea is the ideal child 




THE KOREAN AND HIS BULL 



of nature; superstitious, simple, patient and ignorant. He 
is the slave of his work, and he moves no further from his 
village than the nearest market. He has a terrified belief in 
the existence of demons, spirits and dragons, whose dirty 
and grotesque counterfeits adorn his thatched hut. There 
are other characteristic traits in this great section of the 
national life. Their capacity for work is unlimited; they 
are seldom idle, and, unlike the mass of their countrymen, 
they have no sense of repose. As farmers, they have 
by instinct and tradition certain ideas and principles 
which are excellent in themselves. To the wayfarer 



120 KOREA 

and stranger the individual farmer is supremely and sur- 
prisingly hospitable. A foreigner discussing the peculiarities 
of their scenery, their lands, and the general details of their 
life with them, is struck by their profound reverence for 
everything beyond their own understanding, and their 
amazing sense of the beautiful in nature. The simplicity 
of their appreciation is delightful. It is easy to believe 
that they are more susceptible to the charms of flowers and 
scenery than to that of woman. 

At rare intervals the farmer indulges in a diversion. 
Succumbing to the seductions of market day, after the 
fashion of every other farmer the world has ever known, 
he returns to the homestead a physical and moral wreck, 
the drunk and disorderly residuum of many months of 
dreary abstinence and respectability. At these times he 
develops a phase of unexpected assertiveness, and forcibly 
abducts some neighbouring beauty, or beats in the head of 
a friend by way of enforcing his argument. From every 
possible point of view he reveals qualities which proclaim 
him the simple, if not ideal, child of nature. 

During the many months of my stay in Korea I spent 
some days at a wayside farmhouse, the sole accommodation 
w T hich could be obtained in a mountain village. The slight 
insight into the mode of life of the farming peasant which 
was thus gained was replete with interest, charm and 
novelty. Knowing something of the vicissitudes of farm 
life, I found the daily work of this small community 
supremely instructive. Upon many occasions I watched 
the farmer's family and his neighbours at their work. The 
implements of these people are rude and few, consisting of 
a plough, with a movable iron shoe which turns the sods in 
the reverse direction to our own; a spade, furnished with 



FARMING AND FARM ANIMALS 121 

ropes and dragged by several men ; bamboo flails and rakes, 
and a small hoe, sharp and heavy, used as occasion may 
require for reaping, chopping and hoeing, for the rough 
work of the farm, or the lighter service of the house. 





;^-^2||KC3 






3^* 



** 




1 



A SPA UK FURNISH ED \Y 



During the harvest all available hands muster in the 
fields. The women cut the crop, the men fasten the 
sheaves, which the children load into rope panniers, sus- 
pended upon wooden frames from the backs of bulls. The 
harvest is threshed without delay, the men emptying the 
laden baskets upon the open road, and setting to with 
solemn and uninterrupted vigour. While the men threshed 
with their flails, and the wind winnowed the grain, six, and 
sometimes eight, women worked, with their feet, a massive 
beam, from which an iron or granite pestle hung over a 
deep granite mortar. This rough and ready contrivance 

Q 



122 



KOREA 




# 



I 



pulverises the grain sufficiently for the coarse cakes which 
serve in lieu of bread. 

Beyond the bull and the pig, there are few farm animals 
in the inland districts. The pony and the donkey are not 
employed in agricultural work to the same extent as the 

bull. This latter animal is 
cared for more humanely 
than the unfortunate pony, 
whose good nature is 
ruined by the execrable 
harshness with which he 
is treated. Thegross cruelty 
of the Korean to his pony 
is the most loathsome fea- 
ture of the national life. 

Irrigation is necessary 
only for the rice, which 
yields fairly abundant crops 
throughout Central and 
Southern Korea. To the 
north, rice makes way for 
millet, the great supple- 
mentary food of Korea- 
Elsewhere paddy-fields abound, and the people have become 
adepts in the principles of irrigation and the art of con- 
serving water. Rice is sown in Ma)', transplanted from 
the nurseries to the paddy-fields in June, and gathered in 
October. In times of drought, when it is necessary to tide 
over the period of distress, the fields are used for barley, 
oats and rye which, ripening in May and cut in June, allows 
a supplementary crop to be taken from the fields. The 
fields are then prepared for the rice. The land is inun- 




POUNDING GRAIN 






DOMESTIC INDUSTRY 



123 



dated ; the peasant and his bull, knee-deep in water, plough 
the patches. Beans, peas, and potatoes are planted between 
the furrows of the cornfields, the land being made to pro- 
duce to its full capacity. The crops are usually excellent. 

The fields differ from the farms in China, where the 
farmers, preferring short 
furrows, grow their crops 
in small sections. The long 
furrows of the Korean fields 
recall Western methods, 
but here the analogy ends. 
The spectacle of these well- 
ordered acres is a revelation 
of the earnest way in which 
these down-trodden people 
combat adversity. In many 
ways, however, they need 
assistance and advice. If 
it were prudent to accom- 
plish it, I would convert 
the mission centres of the 
inland districts into experi- 
mental farm-stations, and 
attach a competent demonstrator to each establishment. 

The Koreans hold rice, their chief cereal, in peculiar 
honour. They state that it originated in Ha-ram, in China, 
at a period now involved in much fable and mystery — 
2838 B.C. to 2698 B.C. The name, Syang-nong-si, itself means 
Marvellous Agriculture. The name was doubtless given 
at a later time. The first rice was brought to Korea by 
Ki-ja in 1122 B.C. together with barley and other cereals. 
Before that time the only grain raised in Korea was millet. 




CARRYING PRODUCE TO MARKET 



i2 4 KOREA 

There are three kinds of rice in Korea, with a variety of 
sub-species. First, that which is grown in the ordinary 
paddy-fields. This is called specifically tap-koh y or paddy- 
field rice. It is used almost exclusively to make pap, 
the ordinary boiled rice. Then we have chun-kok or 
field-rice. This is so-called upland rice. It is drier than 
the paddy-field rice, and is used largely in making rice flour 
and in brewing beer. The third kind is grown exclusively 
on the slopes of mountains, and is a wild rice. It is 
smaller and harder than the other kinds ; for this reason 
it is used to provision garrisons. It will withstand the 
weather. Under favourable circumstances, lowland rice 
will keep five years, but the mountain rice will remain 
perfectly sound for quite ten years. 

Next in importance to rice come the different kinds 
of pulse, under which heading is included all the leguminous 
plants, the bean and the pea family. That Korea is well 
provided with this valuable and nutritious form of food will 
be seen from the fact that there are thirteen species of round 
beans, two kinds of long bean, and five varieties of mixed 
bean. Of all these numerous assortments, the " horse- 
bean " is by far the most common. It is the bean which 
forms such a large part of the exports of Korea. It is sup- 
posed by Koreans to have originated in North-Western China, 
and derives its name from the fact that it is used very largely 
for fodder. One variety only may be regarded as indigenous 
— the black-bean — and it is found nowhere else in Eastern 
Asia. Of the rest, the origin is doubtful. The horse-bean 
grows in greatest abundance in Kyong-syang Province and 
on the island of Quelpart, though of course it is common all 
over the country. The black-bean flourishes best in Chyol-la 
Province. The green-bean, oil-bean, and white-cap bean 



CHARACTER OF FOOD-STUFFS 125 

flourish in Kyong-keui Province. The yellow bean is found 
in Hwang-hai Province ; the South River bean appears in 
Chyung-chyong Province ; the grandfather-bean (so called 
because of its wrinkles) grows anywhere, but not in large 
quantities. The brown-bean and chestnut-bean come from 
Kang-won Province. 

It would be difficult to over-estimate the importance 
of these different species of pulse to the Korean. They 
furnish the oily and nitrogenous elements which are lacking 
in rice. As a diet they are strengthening, the nutritious 
properties of the soil imparting a tone to the system. 
Preparations of beans are as numerous as the dishes made 
from flour ; it is impossible to enumerate them. Upon 
an average, the Koreans eat about one-sixth as much pulse 
as rice. The price of beans is one-half that of rice ; the 
price of either article is liable to variations. There are 
varieties which cost nearly as much as rice. 

The common name for barley is po-ri ; in poetical par- 
lance the Koreans call barley The Fifth Moon of Autumn, 
because it is then that it is harvested. The value of barley 
to the Korean arises from the fact that it is the first grain to 
germinate in the spring. It carries the people on until 
the millet and rice crops are ready. Barley and wheat 
are extensively raised throughout Korea for the purpose of 
making wine and beer. In other ways, however, they 
may be considered almost as important as the different 
kinds of pulse. The uses of barley are very numerous. 
Besides being used directly as farinaceous food it becomes 
malt, medicine, candy, syrup, and furnishes a number of 
side-dishes. Wheat comes mostly from Pyong-an Province, 
only small crops of it appearing in the other Provinces. 
Barley yields spring and autumn crops, but wheat yields 



126 KOREA 

only the winter crop. The poor accept wheat as a substitute 
for rice, and brew a gruel from it. It is used as a paste ; it 
figures in the native pharmacopoeia, and in the sacrifices 
with which the summer solstice is celebrated. 

Oats, millet, and sorghum are other important cereals in 
Korea. There are six varieties of millet ; the price of the 
finer qualities is the same as that obtained for rice. One 
only of these six varieties was found originally in the 
country. Sorghum is grown principally in Kyong-syang 
Province. It grows freely, however, in the south ; but is 
less used than wheat, millet, or oats in Korea. A curious 
distinction exists between the sorghum imported from 
China and the native grain. In China, sorghum is used in 
making sugar ; when this sugar-producing grain arrives in 
Korea it is found impossible to extract the sugar. Two of 
the three kinds of sorghum in Korea are native, the third 
coming from Central China. Oats become a staple food in 
the more mountainous regions, where rice is never seen ; it 
is dressed like rice. From the stalk the Koreans make a 
famous paper, which is used in the Palaces of the Emperor. 
It is cultivated in Kang-won, Ham-kyong, and Pyong-an 
Provinces. 

The Korean is omnivorous. Birds of the air, beasts of 
the field, and fish from the sea, nothing comes amiss to his 
palate. Dog-meat is in great request at certain seasons ; 
pork and beef with the blood undrained from the carcase 
fowls and game — birds cooked with the lights, giblets, head 
and claws intact, fish, sun-dried and highly malodorous, all 
are acceptable to him. Cooking is not always necessary ; a 
species of small fish is preferred raw, dipped into some 
piquant sauce. Other dainties are dried sea-weed, shrimps, 
vermicelli, made by the women from buckwheat flour and 



CHARACTER OF FOOD-STUFFS 127 

white of egg, pine seeds, lily bulbs, honey-water, wheat, 
barley, millet, rice, maize, wild potatoes, and all vegetables of 
Western and Eastern gardens ; even now the list is by no 
means exhausted. 

Their excesses make them martyrs to indigestion. 



CHAPTER XI 

Japan in Korea — Historical associations — In Old Fusan — 
Political and economic interests — Abuse of paramountcy 



Southern 
Korea bears 
many evidences 
of the warlike 
activities and 
commercial en- 
terprise of the 
past generations 
of Japanese, 
who, abandon- 
ing their own 
island home, 
sought domicile 
upon the shores 
of the neigh- 
bouring penin- 
sula. The pre- 
carious exist- 
ence of these waifs and strays from an alien state, in 
the midst of a people whose whole attitude was anti- 
foreign, did not deter others from coming to her ports. 




JAPANESE CAVALRY 



JAPAN IN KOREA 129 

This gradual migration from Japan to the Hermit King- 
dom continued during many centuries, promoting an 
intercourse between two races which the Government was 
powerless to frustrate. Japanese historians argue from this 
settlement in Korea that the State was a vassal of Japan 
from the second century by right of conquest and appro- 
priation. The idea, which prevailed through seventeen 
centuries, was not finally rejected until the Ambassador of 
the Mikado signed a treaty at Seoul on February 7th, 1897, 
which recognised Korea as an independent nation. From 
about the beginning of the Christian era until the fifteenth 
century, the relations between Japan and Korea were very 
close. From this period onward Korea, although maintain- 
ing her attitude of complacent indifference to events outside 
her own Empire, betrayed signs of weakness in her policy 
of isolation when menaced with the importunate demands 
of her rival neighbours, China and Japan. 

At the two points in her Empire adjacent to the dominions 
of China and Japan, war and peace alternately prevailed. 
If, upon occasion, the Koreans went out unsupported to 
fight their invaders, the leaders more usually united with 
one of the two rivals against the other. Thus, there was 
always turmoil throughout the kingdom. In the south, as 
in the north, the tide of war rolled backwards and forwards, 
with varying success. From the west, the armies of China 
appeared and vanished, skirting the Liao-tung Gulf, to 
plunder and to devastate the peninsula. Fleets from Shan- 
tung, crossing the Yellow Sea, dropped their anchors in 
the rivers of the land. The west was threatened by the 
hordes of China, and the south was harried by ships and 
men from the east, who pounced upon Fusan and seized 
the cities of the south. The aggressions of the Japanese 

R 



i 3 o KOREA 

extinguished any hope the Koreans might still have cherished 
of preserving the southern frontier of their kingdom intact. 
Although cordons of armed sentinels and palisades, barriers 
of mountains and miles of ruined and deserted wastes pro- 
tected the northern borders against the incursions of the 
Chinese soldiers to some extent, the south was vulnerable. 

Fusan was the floodgate through which poured the 
hostile masses of Japan, an unbroken stream of men, to 
deluge the land. They invaded Korea as enemies, levying 
tribute ; they came as allies against China ; they appeared 
as the embassies of a friendly State and returned enriched 
to the Court of their Sovereign. Actuated by feelings of 
mercy, they sent grain-ships to Fusan when, famine over- 
took their neighbours. Between Japan and Fusan there 
was the continuous passing of ships. Around this outlet, 
the one gate to the southern half of the kingdom, the 
spasmodic beginnings of the present important commerce 
between the two countries grew out of a fretful exchange of 
commodities. 

In the years that followed the earlier visitations, Japan 
became so embarrassed by her own internal troubles, that 
the Kingdom of Korea was left in that peace and seclusion 
which, always preferring, it had found so much difficulty 
in securing. This happy state of things prevailed for two 
centuries. At the end of this interval, the annual embassy 
to Japan from the Court of Korea had ceased. The kingdom 
in general, lulled by visions of perpetual peace, no longer 
maintained defences. Military preparations were neglected; 
the army was disorganised; the old fighting spirit of the 
people died down, and martial exercises disappeared from 
the training of the militia. Dissipation and profligacy were 
rife. In the meantime, order having been restored in Japan, 



JAPAN IN KOREA 131 

the thoughts of her soldiers again turned towards fields 
of conquest and deeds of daring. The vassalship of Korea 
was recalled ; the King was summoned to renew his 
allegiance. The answer proving unsatisfactory, prepara- 




THE GUARD OF THE JAPANESE LEGATION, SEOUL 



tions for an invasion were at once begun. The fleet 
assembled and the ships set sail. The mobility which was 
to distinguish the Japanese in after years characterised 
their movements in this campaign. Within eighteen days 
after their landing at Fusan, the capture of the capital was 
accomplished and a blow was struck, which enabled the 
Koreans at last to understand the gravity of their plight. 

The part, which Fusan played in this war, materially 
assisted the invading hosts of Japan. A settlement at Fusan, 
which had been founded long since by the retainers of the 
Daimio of the island of Tsushima, assisted by itinerant 
traders and deserters from the numerous expeditions which 



132 KOREA 

visited its shores, had grown to such dimensions that when 
the force was descried off the harbour upon the morning of 
May 25th, 1592, Fusan was already in their possession. 
This circumstance gave the troops immediate facilities for 
disembarkation, and, in the subsequent vicissitudes of the 
next six years' campaign, expedited the progress of the war. 
The position of Fusan speedily made the place a base 
of supplies to the army of operation and a repairing yard 
for the Japanese fleet after their disastrous engagement 
with the Korean ships, in an attempt to co-operate with the 
victorious forces, which Konishi and Kuroda had assembled 
before Pyong-yang. After the conclusion of the first invasion 
and the Japanese retreat from the north, before the com- 
bined strength of the Chinese and Koreans on May 22nd, 
1593, Fusan became one of the fortified camps upon 
the coast, where the Japanese armies passed the winter 
in sight of the shores of their own land. The negotia- 
tions, which were opened in the following year, and 
shifted alternately between the camp of the Commander- 
in-Chief at Fusan and the Courts in China and Japan, 
failed. 

Even at this date Japan was anxious to establish her 
power in Korea by obtaining possession of the southern 
provinces. Foiled in this attempt, she renewed her attack. 
Fusan again became the seat of the councils of war, and 
the base for the second invasion. The operations began 
with the siege of the Castle of Nan-on, in Chyol-la province, 
upon the morning of September 21st, 1597. Twelve months 
later, the Japanese were withdrawn from Korea, and the 
war came to its close. Two hundred years passed before 
Korea recovered from the desolation of this conflict, which 
was one in which the loss of three hundred thousand men 



JAPAN IN KOREA 133 

was recorded. Moreover, the Japanese retained Fusan, a 
perpetual evidence of their victory. 

This early claim to the southern provinces put forward 
by the Japanese plainly reveals how long standing is their 
wish to annex the southern half of Korea. Even in modern 
times, they have embarked upon one campaign in the 
interests of Korea, while they are now ready to goto war with 
Russia on behalf of the same nation that they themselves 
consistently bully. Their plea of Korea for the Koreans, 
however, is in curious contrast to their own lawless domina- 
tion of the coveted territory. Indeed, the interests which 
the Japanese have developed for themselves throughout 
these regions do not disclose much consideration for the 
rights of the natives. The treaty of 1876, which opened 
Fusan to Japanese settlers, removed the nominal obstacles 
to that over-sea immigration which had been progressing 
steadily during several centuries. A wave of Japanese 
colonisation at once lapped the eastern, western, and 
southern shores of the Hermit Kingdom. 

Indications of previous incursions were given by the 
affinity which existed between the language, manners, and 
local customs of these newcomers and the indigenous race. 
The existence of this affinity became a powerful, if im- 
personal, instrument in abating the opposition of the popu- 
lation to the settlement. Unable to obtain the secession of 
the territory which they so much desired, communities of 
lapanese fringed its borders. They planted themselves 
wherever there were prospects of trade, until the resources 
of the land were tapped in all directions, and the control of 
its commerce was virtually in their hands. As other ports 
were opened at the persistent instigation of these per- 
severing traders, however, the settlement of the south 



134 KOREA 

proceeded less rapidly. In view of the changing rela- 
tions between Korea and the Powers, therefore, the 
Japanese passed further afield, developing some little 
industry to their own advantage wherever they went. 
Trade followed their flag, whether they were within the 
radius of the treaty ports, or engaged in forcing the 
hand of the local officials by settling beyond the limitations 
of their Conventions. The success of these efforts was soon 
assured. Despite the stipulations of the treaties, and in 
face of the objections of their own, as well as the Korean, 
Government, the irrepressible activity of these pioneers of a 
past generation unconsciously contributed to that supre- 
macy which the trade of Japan has since achieved in the 
land of her former enemy. 

The expansion of Japanese interests in Korea has not 
been without political design. The integrity of her neigh- 
bour is bound up with her own existence. The security of 
Korea emphasises the safety of her own borders; and, as 
her own Empire has developed into a first-class Power, this 
desire to see the kingdom respected has become more and 
more the spirit of the policy upon which she has concen- 
trated her individual action. She has fostered the trade 
with Korea because it drew together the ties which con- 
nected the two countries. She has urged the concession 
of ports, and still more ports, to foreign commerce, because 
the preponderance of her trade in these open marts sub- 
stantiates her claim to be the lawful champion of the race. 
The progress of Korea, since the country came under her 
supervision, has been more evident than any of the 
difficulties which have originated out of the disposition of 
the Japanese to bully and coerce the Koreans. If, upon 
occasion, the results have suggested that the blind cannot 



JAPAN IN KOREA 135 

lead the blind without disaster, the rarity of mistakes 
reflects credit upon the judgment which has been dis- 
played. This combination is, of course, directed against 
foreigners. Just as Japan is discarding those Western 
teachers, whose genius and administrative abilities protected 
her in her days of ignorance, so does she hanker after the 
time when she alone may guard the interests of Korea, and 
supply the demands of her markets. At present, however, 
it is open to question whether the Koreans will have over- 
come their feelings of irritation against the Japanese by the 
time that these have become thoroughly progressive in 
their treatment of the Koreans. The Japanese are more 
repressive in their methods than they need be. 

The extraneous evidence of the power of the Japanese 
irritates the Koreans, increasing the unconquerable aver- 
sion which has inspired them against the Japanese through 
centuries, until, of the various races of foreigners in Korea 
at the present, none are so deservedly detested as those 
hailing from the Island Empire of the Mikado. Nor is 
this prejudice remarkable, when it is considered that it is 
the scum of the Japanese nation that has settled down upon 
Korea. It is, perhaps, surprising that the animus of the 
Koreans against the Japanese has not died out with time; but 
the fault lies entirely with the Japanese themselves. Within 
recent years so much has occurred to alter the position of 
Japan and to flatter the vanity of these island people that 
they have lost their sense of perspective. Puffed up with 
conceit, they now permit themselves to commit social and 
administrative excesses of the most detestable character. 
Their extravagant arrogance blinds them to the absurdities 
and follies of their actions, making manifest the fact that 
their gloss of civilisation is the merest veneer. Their conduct 



136 KOREA 

in Korea shows them to be destitute of moral and 
intellectual fibre. They are debauched in business, and the 
prevalence of dishonourable practices in public life makes 
them indifferent to private virtue. Their interpretation of 
the laws of their settlements, as of their own country, is 
corrupt. Might is right ; the sense of power is tempered 
neither by reason, justice nor generosity. Their existence 
from day to day, their habits and their manners, their 
commercial and social degradation, complete an abomin- 
able travesty of the civilisation which they profess to have 
studied. It is intolerable that a Government aspiring to the 
dignity of a first-class Power should allow its settlements in 
a friendly and foreign country to be a blot upon its own 
prestige, and a disgrace to the land that harbours them. 

There are some twenty-five thousand Japanese in Korea, 
and the Japanese settlement is the curse of every treaty port 
in Korea. It is at once the centre of business, and the scene 
of uproar, riot, and confusion. In the comparative naked- 
ness of the women, in the noise and violence of the shop- 
keepers, in the litter of the streets, there is nothing to 
suggest the delicate culture of Japan. The modesty, 
cleanliness, and politeness, so characteristic of the Japanese, 
are conspicuously absent in their settlements in this country. 
Transformation has taken place with transmigration. The 
merchant has become a rowdy; the coolie is impudent, 
violent, and, in general, an outcast more prone to 
steal than to work. Master and man alike terrorise the 
Koreans, who go in fear of their lives whenever they 
have transactions with the Japanese. Before the Chino- 
Japanese war this spirit had not displayed itself to any 
great extent in the capital of the Hermit Kingdom. 
With the successful conclusion of that campaign, how- 



ABUSE OF PARAMOUNTCY 



137 



ever, the Japanese became so aggressive in their treat- 
ment of the people that, had the choice of two evils been 
possible in view of these events, the Koreans would have 
preferred the Chinese and a state of dependence to the 
conditions which were then introduced. The universal 
admiration aroused by the conduct of the Japanese troops 
in the North-China campaign of 1900-1901 has added 
sensibly to the vanity and egoism of these Korean- 
Japanese. Convinced of their innate superiority, their 
violence towards the Koreans goes on unchecked. It 
threatens now to assume unparalleled dimensions. If the 
relations between the Powers are to continue upon a 
satisfactory footing in Korea, it will be necessary for the 
Japanese Government to redress those abuses which 
foreigners, Japanese, and Koreans alike have combined to 
denounce. 







\ 


















[uAii 




H.M.S. ASTREA 



CHAPTER XII 

The commercial prospects of Korea — Openings to trade — 
Requirements of markets — Lack of British enterprise 

The trade returns for 1900 exceeded every previous year. 
During the period covered by the Boxer disturbances, 
however, the Korean exports to China decreased, and the 
importation of foreign goods likewise fell off. The stimulus 
given to the cereal trade, by the interruption of the Man- 
churian export bean trade from Newchang, and by the 
demand for food-supplies for the troops in China, more 
than counterbalanced this temporary decline in direct native 
exports and direct foreign imports. Cotton goods, however, 
show an increase of -£14,297 over the figures of previous 
years ; but there is a specific falling off in imports of British 
manufacture and origin, and a specific advance in the more 
important lines of Japanese goods. I append a small table 
revealing the comparative prosperity of British and Japanese 
trade at this date : 

English, decrease in : 
Shirtings . . . £59.069 
Indian Yarn . . £3,056 
Sheetings and other 
pieces . Small decrease Other piece goods £25,676 

In time, the markets of Japan will produce everything 



Japanese, 


increase in : 


Shirtings 


■ £i*73i 


Yarn 


• £11,329 


Sheetings 


• £40,422 



COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS OF KOREA 139 

which at present comes from America in the shape of canned 
goods, and from Europe, in the form of textiles or food-stuffs. 
Japanese woven fabrics, and canned foods of inferior quality 
are driving the wholesale manufacturing houses of England 
and America from the markets. At present, therefore, the 
trade of Korea is limited as much by the capacity of the 
Japanese markets as by the wants of the Korean. In face 
of the opposition of the Japanese, their determination to 
retain the Korean markets for themselves, and the absence 
of effective attempts by Western houses to beat up such 
trade as may exist, it is difficult to believe that the future 
will show any material expansion in the capacity of the 
foreign trade. 

Nevertheless, Korea provides a fair field for capital. It 
would be quite possible to improve the condition of foreign 
trade, if merchants could arrange to protect their interests 
by establishing their own agencies in the country, under 
competent and energetic European management. When 
British merchants depart from their apathetic indifference 
and organise an exhaustive expert inquiry into the capa- 
bilities of the Korean trade, their trouble will be quickly 
rewarded. New markes require new commodities, the 
demand for which any technical inspection of the require- 
ments of the people will disclose. Until this examination 
takes place, however, the stagnation in British trade must 
continue. Korea offers to British interests an interesting 
field in which the development of new industries must be 
conducted upon practical lines. Briefly, the imports in 
demand are those which are necessary to meet the require- 
ments of an agricultural country whose mining resources 
are in process of development and whose railway system is 
as yet in its early stages. The increase in the importation 



i 4 o KOREA 

of mining supplies supports this contention. Bags and 
ropes for packing, machinery for agricultural and mining 
purposes, and sewing machines are in greater demand. 
Railway material is, of course, wanted. The new industries 
may not be upon a large scale. Primitive methods doubtless 
will continue for the most part to govern native manu- 
factures such as grass cloth, straw mats, ropes, &c. Excellent 
paper has been made since the replacement of the use of 
native lye by caustic soda and soda-ash, while the innova- 
tion is one to which the people have taken kindly enough. 
Again, while the paper industry is capable of expansion, 
a brisk business in leather could be built up in the country. 
Hides, which are exported to Japan in their raw state, 
are abundant, and might be converted into leather so 
easily on the spot The straw braid industry contains great 
possibilities, while the climate of Korea is naturally suited 
to the growth and treatment of silk. 

Many things would be necessary to the success of 
such enterprises. The work must be based upon a 
knowledge of the country and its language. The 
manufacturer or the merchant must take the pains to 
accommodate a direct import trade to the exigencies 
of the local market. As an example, smaller bales and 
shorter lengths are requisite in the piece goods. The 
establishment of sample warehouses at the treaty ports, 
and in the more important trade-centres of the interior, 
where bales of shirting, cotton and woollen goods, cases 
of farming implements, &c., could be opened and sold 
for cash, would appeal to the natives. This departure 
would avoid the increase in the prime cost of the ar- 
ticles necessitated by the existing system of transhipment. 
At present, goods come from Shanghai to Chi-fu and 



OPENINGS TO TRADE 141 

thence to Chemulpo. They pass then from the importer 
to the Chinese merchants, and from them to the Korean 
wholesale buyers ; these resell them in greatly diminished 
quantities to the pedlars and agents, who retail the goods. 
It would also be advisable to create consular agencies 
in Fusan and Won-san. Official representation at present 
is confined to an underpaid and understaffed Legation 
in Seoul, and a vice-consulate in Chemulpo. Additional 
employes should be interchangeable, undertaking either 
the vice-consular duties of the ports or the secretarial 
services of the Legation. 

The bulk of the imports and exports, which pass through 
the Customs, comes from China and Japan. The means of 
transport are controlled by Japanese ; the export trade of 
the country is entirely in their hands. This fact alone should 
appeal to British shipping interests and to ship-owners. 
Unfortunately, many years of prosperity have brought 
about great changes in the spirit of our nation, and we 
no longer show the enterprise and initiative which formerly 
distinguished us. This depreciation in the forces of the 
nation has promoted a corresponding depression in our 
trade. We are no longer the pioneers of commerce ; nor 
have we the capacity and courage of our forefathers who 
fostered those interests of which we are now so neglectful 
in every quarter of the globe. At the dawn of the twentieth 
century, it is amazing to find a country, with a total foreign 
import and export trade exceeding two millions and a half 
sterling for the year 1901 and two millions and three quarters 
sterling for the year 1902, whose shores were visited by over 
ten thousand steam and sailing trading-vessels in the same 
period, registering an aggregate tonnage of more than two 
million tons, almost untouched by British merchantmen. 



H2 KOREA 

Deplorable as this may be, statistics which Mr. McLeavy 
Brown has drawn up show that one steamship, chartered by 
Chinese and floating the British flag, entered Korean waters 
in 1900 ; that four steamers came in each of the years 1901-2, 
a return which reveals a steady decline upon the previous 
years. Since Korea was opened to trade in 1880, British 
shipping has visited the country in the proportion of 1377 
tons to every two years. Despite appeals from our Consuls 
in Korea to British steamship companies improvement has 
been impossible ; since no response was evoked by their 
efforts, and no service has been established. The conse- 
quence of this is that a valuable opportunity has been 
allowed to escape, the Japanese profiting by our indifference. 
The trade of Korea is increasing gradually. A steamer, 
which could make periodical calls between Shanghai and 
Won-san, Yokohama and Vladivostock, taking cargo and 
passengers to the open ports of Korea, and touching at 
Japan upon the journey back, would return good money 
upon the venture. British and Chinese merchants would 
prefer to ship in a British vessel. The old-fashioned 
traditions of the British mercantile service, as to punctuality 
and despatch, are not carried out by the steamers of the 
Nippon Yusen Kaisha and the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, 
which call at the ports in Korea. It is almost impossible 
to know when the steamers of these companies will arrive 
or when they will leave. Little attempt is made to ob- 
serve their schedule. The condition of the vessels of 
the latter company accredited to the Korean run is 
filthy. Moreover, this company is careless of cargo, 
and quite indifferent to the comforts of its passengers. 
The Nippon Yusen Kaisha certainly supplies meals in 
foreign style, but the Osaka Shosen Kaisha provides 



OPENINGS TO TRADE 143 

nothing. Plying between Japan, China and Korea, this 
company declines to make any arrangements for foreigners 
in the matter of food or accommodation. One experience 
is enough. Unfortunately, foreigners are compelled to travel 
in them, as the steamers of one or other of the two com- 
panies are usually the sole means of communication between 
those countries and Korea. There is cargo and passenger 
traffic for any company that will organise a regular steam- 
service. The profits might be small at first, since the Japanese 
prefer to endure their own steamers and to ship under their 
own flag ; but there are signs that the flourishing condition 
of the trade of the country would bring ultimate success. 

The establishment of a steamer-service, if only of one or 
two steamers, is not the sole hazard by which Japanese 
competition might be faced. The climate of Korea is 
peculiarly suited to fruit-culture. If this work were taken 
in hand, the fruit might be tinned or exported fresh to 
China, where it would find a ready sale. The fertility of the 
soil near Won-san and the abundance of fish in the sea off 
that part of the coast, would make that port a suitable 
export centre for the creation of a fish and fruit-canning 
industry under foreign management. Fish and fruit indus- 
tries of this description in Japan are profitable and very bad. 
Nevertheless, their output is widely distributed over the Far 
East. The initiation of these industrial ventures would 
require some time, for many difficulties oppress foreigners, 
who are anxious to put capital into Korea. In the end, 
a modest venture would reap sufficient success to justify 
the speculation, while the returns would probably permit 
an immediate expansion of the enterprise. There is no 
doubt about the fish ; there is no doubt about the fruit ; 
but whatever investment of an industrial character is made 



144 KOREA 

in Korea, close and high-class technical supervision is the 
necessary accompaniment. 

The British merchant in the Far East is the first to 
condemn his own Minister and to abuse his own Consul, 
and he is the very last to help himself. It may be, however, 
that the follies of the Imperial Government, the unreasoning 
prejudices and foolish blundering of the Foreign Office, have 
created this apathy. The drifting and vacuous policy of Lord 
Salisbury made it impossible to avert the decay of our prestige 
and trade which has set in throughout the Far East. Official 
returns establish only too completely the unhappy predica- 
ment in which trade and merchants alike are placed. There 
is a general decrease in the volume of the one, and there 
has been no sympathetic activity among those engaged in 
commercial interests elsewhere to set against it. The 
deficiency is almost without solution, so long as bounty- 
fed manufactures, carried in subsidised bottoms, are set 
against the products of an unassisted trade. Competition is 
increasing, and foreign manufacturers are themselves now 
meeting the requirements of the markets of China. There 
is little prospect in the future of the restoration of our 
former commercial superiority. Much might be attempted, 
although it seems almost as if the British merchant were so 
bent upon his own damnation, that little could be done. 

The decline of British trade cannot be attributed in any 
way to the late disturbances in North China, to the 
decline in the purchasing power of the dollar, or to the 
temporary rise in the market prices. Japan has become our 
most formidable competitor. The decrease in our trade is 
due entirely to the commercial development and rise of 
Japan, who, together with America, has successfully taken 
from us markets in which, prior to their appearance, British 



LACK OF BRITISH ENTERPRISE 



i45 



goods were supreme. The gravity of the situation in which 
British trade is placed cannot be lightly regarded. We still 
lay claim to the carrying trade of the Far East ; but the 
figures, which support our pre-eminence in this direction are 




BRICK I AYING EXTRAORDINARY 



totally unreliable. If the true conditions were made manifest, 
it would be seen that so far from leading the shipping of 
the world in the Far East, Great Britain could claim but a 
small proportion of the freights carried. Although we may 
own the ships, neither our markets nor our manufactures are 
associated with their cargoes. It would be well if the public 
could grasp this feature of the China trade. ■ Members of 
Parliament, ignorant of the deductions which are necessary 
before claiming the carrying trade of the Far East — much 
less of the Yang-tse and of the China coast — as an asset in 
our commercial prosperity, and a sign of vigour of the first 
magnitude, do not recognise how unsubstantial is the 
travesty of affluence which they so constantly applaud. 



1 46 KOREA 

During 1901, owing to the Boxer disturbance, large 
numbers of ships owned by natives were transferred to the 
British flag. The ostensible decrease in the tonnage of 
British vessels, which entered and cleared affected ports, was 
therefore less than that of other nationalities. Similarly, 
there was a small increase in the duties paid under the 
British flag during the same period, owing to the valuable 
character of these cargoes. Under ordinary circumstances, 
the comparatively small decrease in the British tonnage and 
the increase of more than fifty thousand taels in the pay- 
ments made to the Imperial Customs at such a moment of 
unrest, would suggest the stability of our trading interest, 
and afford no mean standard by which to judge the capacity 
of the markets. Unfortunately, the two most important 
counts in the returns, tonnage and duties, are no criterion. 
It is necessary to inspect closely the individual values of the 
different articles comprising the total trade. In this way 
the general depreciation of our manufactures is at once 
apparent. 

A comparison of the American, Japanese, and German 
returns shows which are the commercial activities that are 
threatening our existence as a factor in the markets of the 
Far East. If, in the returns, we were shown the relations 
between the duties paid under each flag, and the tonnage of 
any particular country, besides the source and destination 
of its cargo, the true condition of British trade would 
be revealed at a glance. As it is, until a table is added to 
the Maritime Report, which will supply this valuable and 
interesting demonstration, the system of a separate examina- 
tion is alone to be relied upon. By this method we find 
that between the years 1891 and 1901 there was a con- 
sistent falling-off in British exports to the Far East in almost 



LACK OF BRITISH ENTERPRISE 147 

every commodity in which the competition of America, 
Japan, and Germany was possible. Since 1895, when Japan 
began to assert herself in the markets of China, those 
articles which, pre-eminently among the commercial 
Powers, she can herself supply, have carried everything 
before them. Ten years ago the British trade in cloths, 
drills, shirtings, cottons, yarns, and matches had attained 
magnificent dimensions. In certain particulars, only, our 
trade was rivalled by the United States of America, whose 
propinquity gave to them some little advantage in the 
markets of the Far East. Now, however, the trade has 
passed altogether into the hands of the Japanese, or is so 
equally divided between Japan and America, Japan and 
Germany, that our pristine supremacy has disappeared. 



CHAPTER XIII 

British, American, Japanese, French, German, and Belgian 
interests — Railways and mining fictions— Tabled counterfeited 
Imports 

With the exception of Great Britain, the example of the 
Japanese in Korea has stirred the Western Powers to 
corresponding activity. Every strange face in Seoul 
creates a crop of rumours. Until the new-comer proves 
himself nothing more dangerous than a correspondent, 
there is quite a flutter in the Ministerial dove-cots. Specu- 
lation is rife as to his chance of securing the particular 
concession after which, of course, it is well known he has 
come from Europe, Asia, Africa, or America. The first 
place among the holders of concessions is very evenly 
divided between Japan and America. If the interests of 
Japan be placed apart, those of America are certainly the 
most prominent. Germany and Russia are busily creating 
opportunities for the development of their relations with the 
industries of the country ; Italy and Belgium have secured 
a footing ; Great Britain is alone in the indifference with 
which she regards the markets of Korea. 

In this chapter I propose to state briefly the exact 
position occupied in Korea by the manufacturing and 
industrial interests of foreign countries ; adding a specific 






BRITISH INTERESTS 149 

table, which, I hope, may attract the attention of British 
manufacturers to the means by which the Japanese houses 
contrive to meet the demands of the Korean market. The 
competition of the Japanese has an advantage in the pro- 
pinquity of their own manufacturing centres ; a co-operative 
movement throughout the Japanese settlements against 
foreign goods is another factor in their supremacy. 

It may, perhaps, afford British manufacturers some small 
consolation to know that there are still many articles which 
defy the imitative faculties of the Japanese. These are, 
mainly, the products of the Manchester market, which have 
proved themselves superior to anything which can be placed 
in competition against them. It has been found, for in- 
stance, impossible to imitate Manchester dyed goods, nor 
can Japanese competition affect the popularity of this 
particular line. Chinese grass-cloths have, however, cut 
out Victoria lawns fairly on their merits. The Chinese 
maufacturer, unhampered by any rise in the cost of pro- 
duction and transportation, produces a superior fabric, of 
more enduring quality, at a lower price. Moreover, in spite 
of the assumed superiority of American over English loco- 
motives, on the Japanese railways in Korea the rolling 
stock produced by British manufacturers has maintained 
its position. It is pleasing to learn that some pro- 
portion of the equipment of the old line from Chemulpo 
to Seoul, and of the new extension to Fusan, have 
been procured from England. Mr. Bennett, the manager 
of Messrs. Holme Ringer and Company, the one British 
house in Korea, with whom the order from the Japanese 
company was placed, informed me that the steel rails and 
fish-plates imported would be from Cammel and Company, 
the wheels and axles from Vickers, and that orders for a 



150 KOREA 

number of corrugated iron goods sheds had been placed 
in Wolverhampton. The locomotives were coming from 
Sheffield. The Japanese company expressly stipulated that 
the materials should be of British make ; it was only through 
the extreme dilatoriness of certain British firms in forward- 
ing catalogues and estimates, that an order, covering a large 
consignment of iron wire, nails, and galvanised steel tele- 
graph wire, was placed in America. This dilatoriness 
operates with the most fatal effect upon the success of 
British industries. The Emperor of Korea instructed 
Mr. Bennett to order forty complete telephones, switch- 
boards, key-boards, and instruments, all intact. Ericson's, of 
Stockholm, despatched triplicate cable quotations, forward- 
ing by express shipment triplicate catalogues and photo- 
graphs, as well as cases containing models of their different 
styles, with samples of wet and dry cables. One of the two 
British firms, to whom the order had been submitted, made 
no reply. The other, after an interval of two months, dictated 
a letter of inquiry as to the chemical qualities of the soil, 
and the character of the climatic influences to which the 
wires, switch-boards, and instruments would be subjected ! 
A few years ago a demand arose for cheap needles and 
fish-hooks. The attention of British manufacturers was 
drawn to the necessity of supplying a needle which could be 
bent to the shape of a fish-hook. A German manufacturer 
got wind of the confidential circular which Mr. Bennett had 
prepared, and forwarded a large assortment of needles and 
fish-hooks, the needles meeting the specified requirements. 
The result of this enterprise was that the German firm 
skimmed the cream of the market. The English needles 
were so stiff that they snapped at once ; and it is perhaps 
unnecessary to add that, beyond the few packets opened for 



BRITISH INTERESTS 151 

the preliminary examination, not one single order for these 
needles has been taken. 

The position which Great Britain fills in Korea is desti- 
tute of any great commercial or political significance. Un- 
intelligible inaction characterises British policy there — as 
elsewhere. Our sole concession is one of very doubtful 
value, relating to a gold mine at Eun-san. In the 
latter part of 1900 a company was formed in London, 
under the style of the British and Korean Corpora- 
tion, to acquire the Pritchard Morgan Mining Concession 
from the original syndicate. In the spring of 1901 Mr. E.T. 
McCarthy took possession of the property on behalf of the 
new owners. Mr. McCarthy had had considerable experi- 
ence as a mine manager. The most careful management was 
necessary to the success of this concern. The expenses of 
working were extraordinarily heavy, as, owing to the absence 
of fuel, coal had to be imported from Japan. A coal seam 
had been located upon the concession, but nothing was then 
known as to its suitability for steam purposes. It is im- 
possible to consider the undertaking very seriously. All 
surface work was stopped during my residence in Korea, 
the operations for the past few months having been confined 
to underground development and prospecting. There was 
talk of the instalment of a mill. A vein of pyrrhotine, 
carrying copper for a width of 13 ft., was regarded with some 
interest, but in the absence of machinery nothing of much 
consequence could be done. 

Another concern, Anglo-Chinese in its formation, is the 
Oriental Cigarette and Tobacco Company, Limited. The 
capital of this venture is registered from Hong-Kong. 
Since May 1902, the company has been engaged at 
Chemulpo in the manufacture, from Richmond and Korean 



i 5 2 KOREA 

tobacco, of cigarettes of three kinds. At the present time it 
possesses machinery capable of a daily output of one million 
cigarettes. In the days of its infancy, the company was 
reduced to a somewhat precarious existence — the early 
weeks of its career producing no returns whatsoever. Now, 
however, a brighter period has dawned, and an ultimate 
prosperity is not uncertain. Cash transactions, in the sales 
of the cigarettes manufactured by the company, began in 
July 1902, realising by the end of February 1903, ^1515 
sterling ; to this must be added credit sales of £896 
sterling — making a grand total for the first few months of 
its existence of .£2411 sterling. A large staff of native 
workers is permanently employed. 

Aside from this company and the mining corporation, 
British industrial activity is confined almost exclusively to 
the agency which Mr. Bennett so ably controls in Chemulpo, 
of which a branch is now established in the capital, 
and the Station Hotel which Mr. Emberley conducts at 
Seoul. Mr. Jordan, the British Minister in Korea, did 
request in June 1903, a concession for a gold mine five 
miles square in Hwang-hai Province. Apart from this, the 
apathy of the British merchant cannot be regarded as singular 
when business houses in London direct catalogues, intended 
for delivery at Chemulpo, to the British Vice-Consul, Korea, 
Africa. Nor, by the way, is Korea a part of China. Mr. 
Emberley has established a comfortable and very pros- 
perous hotel in the capital, while at Chemulpo Mr. Bennett 
has opened out whatever British trade exists in Korea. 
British interests are safe enough in his hands, and if 
merchants will act in co-operation with him, it might still 
be possible to create good business, in spite of the com- 
petition and imitation of the Japanese. In this respect 



BRITISH INTERESTS 153 

British traders are not unreasonably expected to observe the 
custom, prevailing among all Chinese merchants, of giving 
Korean firms an extended credit. Foreign banks in the Far 
East charge seven or eight per cent, per annum, and the 
native banks ten to fourteen per cent., which represents 
a very considerable advance upon home rates. In the 
opinion of Mr. Bennett, who is, without doubt, one of the 
most astute business men in the Far East, no little improve- 
ment would be shown in the Customs return of British 
imports, if the manufacturers at home would ship goods to 
Korea on consignment to firms, whose standing and bank 
guarantees were above suspicion, charging thereon only 
home rates of interest. An American company, engaged 
extensively in business with Korea, never draws against 
shipments, by that means deriving considerable advantage 
over its competitors. I commend this suggestion to the 
attention of the British shipper, particularly as trade in 
Korea is largely dependent upon the rice crop. In the train 
of a bad harvest comes a reduction of prices. Importers, 
then, who have ordered stocks beforehand, find themselves 
placed in a quandary. Their stocks are left upon their 
hands — it may be for a year, or even longer — and they are 
confronted with the necessity of meeting the excessive rates 
of interest current in the Far East. If the manufacturer 
could meet the merchant by allowing a rate of interest, 
similar to that prevailing at home, to be charged, the im- 
porter of British goods would be less disinclined to indent 
ahead. Under existing circumstances the merchant must 
take the risk of ordering in the spring for autumn delivery, 
and vice-versa; on the other hand, China and Japan, being 
within a few days' distance of Korea, the importer prefers to 
await the fulfilment of the rice crop, when, as occasion 

u 



154 KOREA 

requires, he can cable to Shanghai, Osaka, or elsewhere 
for whatever may be desired. 

Attached to the English Colony in Korea, which 
numbers one hundred and forty-one, there is the usual 
complement of clergy and nursing sisters, under the 
supervision of Bishop Corfe, the chief of the English 
Mission in Seoul. Miss Cooke, a distinguished lady doctor 
and a kind friend to the British Colony, is settled in 
Seoul. A number of Englishmen are employed in the 
Korean Customs ; their services contributing so much to 
the splendid institution which Mr. McLeavy Brown has 
created, that one and all are above criticism. Mr. McLeavy 
Brown would be the first to acknowledge how much the 
willing assistance of his staff has contributed to his success. 

The importance of the American trade in Korea is un- 
deniable. It is composite in its character, carefully con- 
sidered, protected by the influence of the Minister, supported 
by the energies of the American missionaries, and controlled 
by two firms, whose knowledge of the wants of Korea is 
just forty-eight hours ahead of the realisation of that want 
by the Korean. This is, I take it, just as things should be. 
The signs of American activity, in the capital alone, are 
evident upon every side. The Seoul Electric Car Company, 
the Seoul Electric Light Company, and the Seoul (Fresh 
Spring) Water Company have been created by American 
enterprise, backed up by the " liveness " and 'cuteness of the 
two concessionaires, whom I have just mentioned, and 
pushed along by little diplomatic attentions upon the part 
of the American Minister. The Seoul-Chemulpo Railway 
Concession was also secured by an American, Mr. Morse, 
the agent of the American Trading Company, and subse- 
quently sold to the Japanese company in whom the rights 



AMERICAN INTERESTS 



*5S 



of the concession are now vested. The charter of the 
National Bank of Korea has also been awarded to these 
Americans, and it is now in process of creation. The only 
mine in Korea which pays is owned by an American syndi- 




THE CONSULTING-ROOM OF MISS COOKE 



cate ; and, by the way, Dr. Allen, the American Minister, 
possesses an intelligible comprehension of the Korean 
tongue. 

There is a large American colony in Korea, totalling in 
all two hundred and forty. One hundred live in Seoul ; 
sixty-five are employed upon the American Mine at Un-san ; 
thirty-four live at Pyong-yang. Five are in the service of the 
Korean Government ; ten are associated with the railway ; 
the famous two are engaged in business and the remainder 
comprise the staffs of the Legation and Consulate, and 
a medley of missionaries. American trade with Korea 
embraces kerosene, flour, mining machinery, railway and 



156 KOREA 

mining supplies, household goods and agricultural imple- 
ments, clothing and provisions, drills, sheetings, cotton 
goods, and cotton yarn. The American mine at Un-san 
employs seventeen Japanese and one hundred and thirty- 
three Chinese, one hundred Europeans, of whom thirty-five 
are American, and four thousand natives, whose wages range 
from ScL to is. id. daily. The private company that has 
acquired this concession works five separate mines with 
enormous success ; four mills, two of forty stamps and two 
of twenty stamps, are of long standing. An additional mill 
of eighty stamps is of more recent construction. During 190 1 
gold to the amount of -£150,000 was exported by the com- 
pany, while in the year following this sum was very vastly 
exceeded. The area of the concession is eight hundred 
square miles. 

The future alone can disclose whether Korea is to be 
absorbed by the Japanese. At present, the Japanese 
population in Korea exceeds twenty thousand, the actual 
estimate falling short of twenty-five thousand. The Japanese 
control the railway between Chemulpo and Seoul, as 
well as the important trunk line to Fusan, an under- 
taking now in course of construction and under the 
immediate supervision of the Japanese Government. The 
new company has since absorbed the parent line from 
Seoul to Chemulpo. The capital of this company is 
twenty-five million yen, ^"2,500,000, which is to be raised 
in annual instalments of five million yen, counting from the 
time when one-tenth of the first instalment of five million yen 
was found. As a matter of fact, the preliminary turning 
of the first sods took place at Fusan on September 21st, and 
at Yong-tong-po on August 20th, in the summer of 1901. 
From that moment, the Japanese Government made itself 



JAPANESE INTERESTS 157 

responsible for the payment of the debenture bonds, and 
guaranteed six per cent, upon the company's subscribed 
capital for a period of fifteen years.* Each share is of the 
value of £5, the money to be called up as required, each 
call being at the rate of ten shillings per share. The whole 
of the 400,000 shares, which was the original allotment, 
was at once taken up, Japanese and Koreans alone being 
eligible as shareholders. The estimated cost of the line is 
.£9000 per mile. Work has been completed as far as 
Syu-won, a distance of twenty-six miles, over which 
section trains are already running. Construction is, of 
course, being rapidly pushed forward, and working parties 
are engaged at a number of places along the line of route. 

The length of the Seoul-Fusan Railway will be 
287 miles. It is confidently expected that the under- 
taking will be completed within six years. There will 
be some forty stations, including the terminal depots, 
and it is, perhaps optimistically, estimated that the 
scheduled time for the journey from Fusan to Seoul will 
be twelve hours, which is an average of twenty-four miles 
an hour, including stops, the actual rate of speed being 
approximately some thirty miles an hour. The present 
working speed of the Seoul-Chemulpo railway requires a 
little less than two hours to make the journey between 
Seoul and Chemulpo, a distance of twenty-five miles, from 
which it will be seen that considerable improvement must 
take place if the distance between Seoul and Fusan is to be 
accomplished within twelve hours. 

■■'• The Japanese Government, on December 22nd, 1903, decided to 
find the capital necessary for the immediate completion of the railway. 
An additional million sterling has been allotted for this purpose, and 
the line will be finished within the course of 1904. 



158 KOREA 

In the first few miles of the journey, the trunk line to 
Fusan will run over the metals of the Seoul-Chemulpo rail- 
way. The start will be from the station outside the south 
gate of the capital ; the second stop will be Yong-san, and 
the third No-dol. At the next station, Yong-tong-po, the 
railway leaves the line of the Seoul-Chemulpo branch to run 
due south to Si-heung, where it bears slightly eastward until 
reaching An-yang and Syu-won,some twenty-six miles distant 
from Seoul. At this point the railway resumes its southerly 
direction and passes through Tai-hoang-kyo, O-san-tong, and 
Chin-eui, where it crosses the border of the Kyong-keui Pro- 
vince into Chyung-chyong Province, and reaches the town 
of Pyong-tak. The line then runs near the coast, proceeding 
due south to Tun-po, where it will touch tide water, and, 
bearing due south, reaches On-yang, sixty-nine miles from 
Seoul. It then proceeds in a south-easterly direction to 
Chyon-eui, and once again turning directly south crosses 
the famous Keum River and enters the important town 
of Kong-chyu. From Kong-chyu, which is ninety-six miles 
from Seoul, and by its fortunate possession of facilities for 
water transit, is destined to become an important distributing 
centre, the line follows its southward course towards Sin-gyo, 
where an important branch line will be constructed towards 
the south-west to connect Kang-kyong, the chief commercial 
centre of the province, with the main system. It is also 
probable that a further extension of the line from Sin-gyo 
towards the south-west will be projected, in order to make 
communication with Mokpo, the coast port through which 
passes the grain trade of Chyol-laand Kyong-syang Provinces. 

The town of Sin-gyo marks one hundred and twenty- 
five miles from Seoul ; beyond Sin-gyo, the south-westerly 
direction, which the line is now following, changes by an 



JAPANESE INTERESTS 159 

abrupt sweep to the east, where, after passing through Ryon- 
san, a western spur of the great mountain chain of the 
peninsula is crossed, and the town of Chin-san entered. 
Still running east to Keum-san, the valley of the southern 
branch of the Yang River is traversed in its upper waters, 
until, after following the river in a north-easterly direction 
for some little distance, the road takes advantage of a gap 
in the mountains, through which the Yang River breaks, to 
cross the stream and turn due east to touch Yang-san, 
coming to a pause one hundred and forty-one miles from 
Seoul in Yong-dong. From Yong-dong the railway moves 
forward north-east to Whan-gan, one hundred and fifty- 
three miles from Seoul, the place lying close within the 
mountain range but a few miles distant from the Chyu-pung 
Pass — to cross which will call for more than ordinary 
engineering skill. Leaving the pass and running slightly 
south of east, the railway proceeds towards the Nak-tong 
River, through Keum-san, crossing the stream at Wai-koan, 
a few miles north-east of Tai-ku, a town of historical 
importance some two hundred miles from Seoul. The 
railway then follows the valley of the Nak-tong, and passes 
to the east of the river, through Hyon-pung, Chyang-pyong, 
Ryong-san, Syok-kyo-chyon, Ryang-san, Mun-chyon, Tong- 
lai, where the Nak-tong River is again met. The direction 
from Tai-ku is south-east all the way to Fusan, whence 
the line runs beside the river. At Kwi-po it strikes across 
to the native town of Old Fusan, thence running round the 
Bay to its terminus in the port. 

This railway, which provides for extensive reclamation 
works in the harbour of Fusan, has become already 
an economic factor of very great importance. More 
particularly is this manifest when it is remembered that the 



160 KOREA 

country through which the line passes is known as the 
granary of Korea. Developments of a substantial character 
must follow the completion of this undertaking, the position 
of Japan in Korea receiving more emphatic confirmation 
from this work than from anything by which her previous 
domination of the country has been demonstrated. It will 
promote the speedy development of the rich agricultural 
and mining resources of Southern Korea, and as these new 
areas become accessible by means of the railway, it is 
difficult to see how the influx of Japanese immigrants and 
settlers to the southern half of the kingdom can be 
avoided. Indeed, a very serious situation for the Korean 
Government has already arisen, since by far the greatest 
number of the men, engaged upon the construction of the 
Seoul-Fusan Railway, have signified their intention of be- 
coming permanent settlers in the country. In the case of 
these new settlers, the company has granted from the land, 
which it controls on either side of the line, a small plot to 
each family for the purposes of settlement. While the man 
works upon the line, his family erect a house and open up 
the ground. Whether or no the action of the company can 
be justified to the extent which has already taken place, the 
policy has resulted in the establishment of a continuous 
series of Japanese settlements extending through the heart of 
Southern Korea from Seoul to Fusan. 

From time to time the Japanese Government itself has 
attempted to stem the torrent of Japanese migration to 
Korea. But the success of the colonies already settled there 
has made it a delicate and a difficult task — one which, in the 
future, the Japanese Government may be expected to leave 
alone. The railway once open, the still greater stimulus 
which will be imparted to agriculture in the southern half of 



FRENCH INTERESTS 161 

the kingdom, will appeal to many thousands of other would-be 
settlers. Whatever objection the Korean Government may 
offer to this invasion, it is quite certain that with the very 
heart of the agricultural districts laid bare, Korea must be 
prepared to see a rapid increase in her already large 
Japanese population. In a great part the increase is 
already an accomplished fact. The influence of Japan is 
already supreme in Korea. It is paramount in the 
Palace ; and it is upheld by settlements in every part 
of the country. In the capital itself there is a flourishing 
colony of four thousand adults. She has established 
her own police force ; created her own post-office, 
telephone, cable and wireless telegraph system. She has 
opened mines — her principal mine is at Chik-san — and has 
introduced many social and political reforms, besides being 
the greatest economic factor in the trade of the kingdom. 

Little development has distinguished the concessions 
secured by the French in Korea. A railway concession was 
abandoned a few years ago ; and an existing charter, cover- 
ing certain mining rights, has almost expired. M. Colin 
de Plancy, the amiable and energetic French Minister in 
Korea, has, however, succeeded in re-arranging the terms 
of the abandoned concession. In addition to this, in June 
1903, he applied for a new gold-mining concession in 
Chyung-chyong Province. The concession, which has been 
revived, was granted so far back as 1896; but it was 
forfeited long since, and only recently revoked. By 
the old agreement a French syndicate, La Compagnie 
de Fines-Lille, received a charter to construct a line of 
railway between Seoul and Wi-ju, the important frontier 
port at the mouth of the Yalu. The construction of this line, 
which will form, together with the Seoul-Fusan railway, the 

x 



1 62 KOREA 

main trunk line of the kingdom, will no longer be the private 
speculation of a French syndicate, the Imperial Govern- 
ment itself having undertaken to make the road. Two 
years ago the French Minister succeeded in reviving the 
interest of the Korean Government in the scheme, and 
secured an undertaking that the services of French engineers 
only should be employed, and that the materials for the new 
work should be supplied by French houses. In continuation 
of this most excellent piece of diplomacy, M. Colin de 
Plancy was instrumental, at a litde later date, in bringing 
about the creation of the North- Western Railway Bureau, 
of which the First Secretary of the French Legation, M. G. 
Lefevre, was made managing director, with Yi Yong-ik 
as its President. M. de Lapeyriere became the chief 
consulting engineer to the railway ; M. Bourdaret, and a 
small army of French engineers, master mechanics, over- 
seers, and skilled workmen were placed upon the pay-sheets 
of the company. 

The Korean Government made itself responsible for the 
annual disbursement of one hundred thousand yen (.£10,000) 
on this railway, and construction began in the spring of 1902. 
Operations were suspended, however, owing to the preva- 
lence of the rainy season. Work was resumed again in the 
autumn and, again, after a short spell of activity, stopped. 
Lack of the necessary funds is doubtless the reason ; yet, 
nevertheless, the Korean Government refused an offer for 
the right to construct the line from a Russian financier. 
This preliminary stage of the line traverses districts famous 
for their mineral and agricultural resources, and connects 
the present capital, Seoul, with two former seats of 
Central Government, Song-do and Pyong-yang, even now 
rich and populous towns. It is intended to complete the 



FRENCH INTERESTS 163 

line to Song-do at once, pushing forward towards Wi-ju, in 
the hope of connecting with the Trans-Siberian system, 
when the Government is able to find the funds. The dis- 
tance between Seoul and Song-do by the line of railway 
is eighty kilometres. In round figures the cost of construc- 
tion is placed at about £260,000 ; the traffic receipts are 
valued at -£12,000, -£10,000 of which will be contributed by 
passenger traffic. The annual working expenses are placed 
at ;£8ooo ; and it is "hoped" that the Seoul-Song-do line 
will be opened to general traffic within two years. The 
figures are altogether French and airy. 

A survey of the line between Seoul and Song-do shows 
to some extent the nature of the work which awaits the 
French engineers. Gradients will be about 21 feet to 
the mile ; embankment-building and excavation give 13,000 
cubic metres to the kilometre ; twenty-six per cent, of 
the line will be curved, the radius of the most acute 
bend being some 200 metres ; twenty-five moderately 
large bridges, one hundred and fifty small bridges and 
culverts will figure in construction. The Im-chin River 
will be crossed, at first, by ferry ; in the end, however, 
a bridge, five hundred feet in length, will span this 
break in the line. The gauge of the road would be 
1.43 m. ; the ties will be 2.50 m. long, 30 m. in width, 
1.25 m. thick. There will be 1.70 kilometres for the purpose 
of side-tracking, and an off-line, 1.30 kilometres long, will 
branch to Han-chu, on the Han River. Between Seoul and 
Song-do there will be six stations and four signal points ; 
the rolling stock will consist of five locomotives of the 
Mallet type, five combined first and second class and eight 
third class coaches, five luggage cars, and twenty-five freight 
cars. This comprises the general requirements of the pro- 



1 64 KOREA 

posed line, evolved out of an abandoned concession by the 
astuteness and activity of the French Minister. 

The line will proceed from outside the West Gate of 
Seoul, where the terminus will be 48.50 m. above the sea 
level, towards Yang-wha-chin, crossing the A-o-ya Pass at 
59.50 m. Descending to the valley of the Han River, and 
17 m. above tide- water, the line traverses the district of 
Han-ju, and the western county of Ko-yang, leaving the 
Han valley 31 kilometres from Seoul. The line then crosses 
the Kyo-wha valley, at an elevation of 15 m., and at 42 kilo- 
metres from Seoul crosses a tributary of the Im-chin River 
at Mun-san-po. Fifty-one kilometres from Seoul the 
railway will meet the Im-chin River ferry, where passengers 
and freight, under the existing provisional arrangements, 
will be transferred to a second train upon the remote side 
of the river. The line then crosses the Chang-dan district, 
and moving up the Valley of Song-do enters the Song-do 
terminus at an elevation of 40 m. The distance by rail is 
somewhat shorter than by road, and unexpectedly few 
obstacles have been met with in the course of construction. 
A rough survey has been made north from Song-do, from 
which point the railway will run due west to Hai-chu, then 
due north to Pyong-yang through Sin-chyon and An-ak. 
Beyond this point to Wi-ju no survey has been attempted. 

It is questionable, however, if the French line promises 
such satisfactory returns as those which may be expected 
from the southern railway. When the two lines have been 
completed and Fusan is in direct communication with the 
Siberian Railway, some definite expansion in the northern 
areas of the kingdom may be anticipated, and the railway 
will be in a position to compete with the junks of the Yalu. 
But, apart from the border trade, there is little settled 






RAILWAYS AND MINING FICTIONS 165 

industry which may be relied on to contribute traffic to the 
carrying capacity of this line ; nor is it likely that the mines, 
whose concessions may be said to border the line of railway, 
will accept it as a medium of transportation so long as they 
are able to make use of the existing facilities for water 
transit, with which the American and English mines are 
served. Of course, it cannot be predicted what mining and 
agricultural developments may take place in the northern 
regions of Korea. Gold and coal, copper and iron are known 
to exist. The development of this mineral wealth may open 
up the country, and the presence of the mines will create a 
demand for the local production of certain varieties of food- 
stuffs. These channels of revenue to the railway are highly 
problematical. In the absence of any specific value, which 
may be attached to the prospects of the French line, a com- 
parison between the relative importance of the two under- 
takings confirms the superiority of the Japanese concession 
upon every count. The strategic, as well as the com- 
mercial, significance of the southern trunk line must 
impress the Koreans with its very positive qualities. 

There are some eighty French subjects in Korea, of 
whom forty are French priests and one a bishop. Three 
are associated with the North-Western Railway Bureau ; 
two are in the Korean Customs ; two have been given 
employment in the Imperial Mines, and one has become 
legal adviser to the Imperial Government. One is attached 
to the French School; one manages, most admirably and 
successfully, the Imperial Korean Post Office. Two are 
working in the Korean Arsenal, and three assist in the 
management of the Hotel du Palais. The members of the 
French colony have been lately increased by the addition 
of a number of French engineers, who have fallen upon the 



1 66 KOREA 

Korean Government in the hope of finding employment 
with the Railway Bureau. These transitory visitors are not 
included in my figures. 

The German colony is small and insignificant. German 
interests, however, have been given the concession of a rail- 
way line from Seoul to Won-san. A mine, controlled by 
a German syndicate, and located at Tong-ko-kai, has been 
abandoned with the loss of the many thousand pounds 
which had been laid out upon machinery and mining 
material in general. Germans possess no other con- 
cessions. There is an important firm in Chemulpo, 
and this house has established a branch in Seoul. A 
distinguishing feature of the business is that there are 
Germans in both the Seoul and Chemulpo offices who are 
thoroughly familiar with the Korean language. This, as the 
country develops, will not be without effect ; and the fact 
seems to illustrate very admirably the methodical system 
upon which German commerce in the Far East is built up. 
The Court band has been entrusted to the training of a 
German professor. The effect is. very solemn, and perhaps 
discloses the necessity for the introduction of a German 
physician to the Imperial Household. This counterblast to 
the position, which a singular power of sympathy and great 
professional ability has won for Miss Cooke, is of recent 
accomplishment. This English lady doctor has been for 
many years physician-in-ordinary to the Imperial House- 
hold, and enjoys the complete confidence of the Court. 
Miss Cooke is the only foreigner who has succeeded in 
overcoming native prejudice and suspicion entirely. 

The battle of concessions is as keen in Korea as in China. 
The latest Power to interest itself in the exploitation of the 
mineral deposits of Korea is Belgium, hitherto without 



BELGIAN INTERESTS 167 

special concern in the development of the mining interests 
of the kingdom. Now, however, Belgium has come for- 
ward, and it is understood that a concession, nine hundred 
square It* in extent, has been granted to its nationals. 
The Belgians have undertaken to lend the Korean Govern- 
ment 4,000,000 yen, receiving in exchange the lease of the 
mines for twenty-five years. The concession is situated at 
Ta-bak Mountain, at the point where the Chyung-chyong, 
Kyong-syang and Kang-won Provinces meet. At this 
moment it is impossible to state the value of this new con- 
cession ; but the Belgians are shrewd, close-fisted people. 
It is doubtful, therefore, if their venture will be as unfortunate 
as our own, or the German, has been. 

Adverting to the foreign trade of Korea again, foreign mer- 
chants possess a very definite grievance against the Japanese 
manufacturing houses who cater for the Korean markets. 
After the closest investigation, I venture to assert there are 
but few of the so-called foreign-made articles, exposed to 
sale in the shops of the Japanese settlements in any of the 
open ports in Korea, that are not most shameless imitations. 
For the most part they are concocted in Japan, and embel- 
lished with the necessary designs and trade marks, with 
some imperceptible modification. The illegality of this 
practice is incontrovertible. In the absence of any super- 
vision upon the part of the Korean Customs, or by repre- 
sentatives of merchants affected by these tricks, it is difficult 
to see how they may be avoided. I add a table, showing 
the various articles counterfeited by Japanese manufacturers 
with which I am personally familiar, and which are on 
sale under false descriptions. In each instance the imitation 
comes from Japan. 

* Ten li equal three English miles. 



i68 



KOREA 



America: 

Kerosene, Standard Oil Co. Californian wines, hock, and 
Richmond Gem cigarettes. claret. 

Armour's canned meats. Eagle Brand Milk. 

Californian canned fruit. Drugs. 

Great Britain : 

Soap, Pears. Alkalies, Brunner, Mond, and 

Matches, Bryant and May's. Company. 

Sauces, Lea and Perrin. Jams, Crosse and Blackwell. 

Needles and cottons. Turkey Reds, John Orr-Ewing 

and Company. 

France : 
Wines, claret and hock. Photographic materials. 



Germany 



Quinine, Messrs. C. A. Boeh- 

ringer's. 
Hardware. 



Needles. 
Pianos, Berlin. 



Sweden : 
Matches. 



Butter. 



Holland : 

Liqueurs and spirits. 



Denmark : 
Butter. 

India : 
Cotton fabrics and yarns. 

Switzerland : 
Swiss milk, Nestle's. 






COUNTERFEITED IMPORTS 



169 



Japanese kerosene oil comes over in cans which exactly 
reproduce the pattern of the Standard Oil Company. 

John Orr-Ewing and Company's Turkey reds, in breadths 
of 27 in. and 40 yds. long, and colour fast, become 27 in. in 
breadth, 37^ yds. in length, the colour is not fast, the material 
shrinks and the weight is 5 lbs. deficient. 

The trade mark of the firm, " Parrot Brand," with a 
picture of the bird, is the most perfect imitation imaginable. 

Imitations of Nestle's milk, Bryant and May's matches, 
Boehringer's quinine, and many other articles have been 
repeatedly denounced by the firms. 




A RAILWAY SIDING 



CHAPTER XIV 

Some account of the treaty ports ; Won-san, Fusan, Mok-po — 
Character of export and import trade — Local industries 

The oldest of the settlements in Korea is the port of 
Won-san, situated upon the eastern shores of the kingdom, 
half-way between Fusan and Vladivostock. 

The picturesqueness of its setting makes the spacious 
harbour of this bustling treaty port a graceful conclusion to 
any tour which has had for its object the inspection of the 
scenic loveliness of the Diamond Mountains. There is 
little indeed to disturb the placid enjoyment of life amid 
the pine-clad bluffs and frowning headlands which surround 
the broad waters of the bay. The fact of passing from the 
seclusion of wild valleys and rugged heights, sheltering only 
the monasteries of Buddha, into the lively atmosphere of a 
treaty port does not destroy the illusions which any stay in 
the lofty regions of these Twelve Thousand Peaks necessarily 
fosters. 

Within wooded cliffs, which hang above a fringe of 
silver sand, looking out over a harbour forty square miles 
in extent, where mountains encompass every quarter of the 
horizon, and rocky islets, verdant with vegetation, stud a 
sapphire sea, there lies a spot where the fleets of the world 
might swing at anchor with perfect safety, in perfect isola- 






WON SAN 171 

tion. It is certainly a wonderful harbour ; and worthy of 
the commotion caused at intervals by the desire of Russia 
to secure possession of the prize. The superb advantages 
with which it is endowed make it an object of solicitude to 
the Powers. If possession of this harbour were coupled 
with the occupation of Vladivostock and Port Arthur, the 
control of those northern seas would rest with the Russian 
fleet. Otherwise, it is a peaceful place to be the centre 
of so much political turmoil. 

Won-san, the treaty port, is situated in the south-west 
corner of the harbour. The northern arm of the harbour 
is known as Port Lazareff ; the south-eastern portion is 
Broughton Bay, the name which is usually given to the 
entire harbour. Captain W. R. Broughton, the English 
navigator, first entered it on October 4, 1797, in his 
sloop-of-war of 16 guns, Providence. Port Lazareff is 
about sixteen miles from Won-san, in a westerly direction 
across the bay, at the mouth of the Dun river. It is 
the point which Russia was credited with the intention of 
securing for the terminus of her Trans-Siberian Railway. 
There are two entrances into Broughton Bay, one giving 
direct admission into Port Lazareff. Russian men-of-war 
make the most of this advantage in visiting the harbour, for 
it enables them to enter without revealing their presence to 
the authorities upon shore. Upon one occasion, when I was 
visiting the neighbourhood, I surprised parties from two 
Russian men-of-war engaged in surveying the hills and 
taking soundings of the anchorages ; their presence was 
quite unsuspected by the Japanese Consul or by the Com- 
missioner of Customs. 

The bay is well protected by chains of mountains, its 
physical perfections in this respect rendering it of peculiar 



172 KOREA 

value as a naval base. The channel into the harbour is 
broad, deep, and free from all encumbrances. Numerous 
islands are so situated about the mouth that every approach 
could be strongly protected. Besides being easy of access, 
there is an average depth of about nine fathoms upon a 
firm bottom. The water is free from ice in winter, notwith- 
standing the severity of the cold in this region. Inex- 
haustible supplies of spring water can be obtained ; and, in 
the proper season, the shooting and fishing afford very 
varied sport. These are, however, but the accessories to a 
harbour, which, if it were fortified and converted into a 
first-class naval station, would be the equal of Vladivostock 
and superior to every other station in the Far East. It is 
far in advance of anything which the Powers have seized in 
China. 

Between Hong Kong and Dalny, the commercial harbour 
of Port Arthur, which Russia has endeavoured to improve 
since it belonged to China, there is no anchorage which 
could be so readily and inexpensively adapted to the require- 
ments of a first-class naval station of a first-class naval 
Power. At present, Won-san harbour is visited only by the 
squadrons which Russia and Japan maintain in this water. 
Athough there is a flourishing Japanese settlement upon 
shore, no Japanese gun-boat is detached as yet for guardship 
duties. At Fusan and Chemulpo, however, the practice of 
detailing ships for port duties is carefully observed, Japan 
losing few opportunities to impress upon her neighbour in 
particular, and the world in general, the significance of her 
interests in Korea. 

Won-san was opened to Japanese trade in 1880, becoming 
a general foreign settlement on November 3rd, three years 
later. Although its subsequent development is due entirely 



WON SAN 173 

to the industry of the Japanese, and their undoubted com- 
mercial sagacity, its imports of foreign trade in recent years 
have contributed to the position which it now takes in the 
commercial progress of the country. The economic expan- 
sion of the port, however, has been promoted by the business 
resulting from the immigration of Japanese settlers and the 
doubling of the native population. Materials for clothing, 
cotton goods, grass-cloth, and silk are pre-eminent in the 
local requirements. A comparison of the 'annual returns 
discloses a steady advance in its prosperity, the paramount 
influence, which the Japanese exercise over its welfare, 
restricting foreign trade to those articles which cannot be 
imported from Japan. Business has just doubled in six 
years ; but the increase in the import trade is not in favour 
of British goods. The imposition of the tariff, which pre- 
vails in European Russia, at Vladivostock, accounted 
for the general advance in foreign imports at Won-san 
during 1901. In the following year, 1902, the imports 
were again heavier than the exports, the figures being : 
Imports, £191,535, and exports, £102,205. The local 
government of the port is conducted upon Japanese lines. 
The streets are broad, well gravelled, and fringed with an 
irregular border of trees. After the foul and narrow lanes of 
the Korean town, through which it is necessary to pick one's 
way before entering the settlement, their appearance is 
cheerful and attractive. 

Won-san, the native town which has given its name to 
the port, is two miles from the heart of the settlement, and 
comprises a quaint medley of thatched and tiled houses, 
crowded together in narrow and noisome alleys. The main 
road from Seoul to the frontier, one of the six great roads 
of the country, lies through the centre of the town. The 



i 7 4 KOREA 

clusters of hovels, upon both sides of this excellent high- 
way, suggest that the eligible sites are only those which 
abut upon this spacious thoroughfare. Glimpses of the bay 
are visible through gaps in the houses. The smell of the 
sea is lost in the fumes of drying fish and decaying garbage, 
which hang heavily in the atmosphere, impregnating every- 
thing and penetrating everywhere, save to the wind-swept 
heights which encircle the bay. A population of 15,000 
huddles in these groups of thatched shops and tumble-down 
houses. 

The native town ceases abruptly about a mile from the 
settlement. Fields of vegetables border the road. The strip 
of beach upon which the town is placed, is black with patches 
of fish spread to the sun, littered with fishing nets, and en- 
cumbered with crazy fishing-boats and junks. After a little 
it disappears around cliffs, whose crests are fragrant with pine 
and fir trees. Tortuous valleys, giving glimpses of pros- 
perous villages set in their midst against a background of 
majestic peaks and ridges of hills, well-timbered headlands 
and promontories upon which are set the houses of the 
missionaries, combine, with the broad waters of the bay 
and the vista of the open sea beyond, to form a series of 
picturesque and supremely attractive views. There are nearly 
three thousand Japanese in residence at Won-san, a few 
Chinese merchants, and a small foreign community, in- 
cluding the Commissioner of Customs and Mrs. Wakefield, 
and the Customs staff. The rest are evangelists of no 
great importance. 

The climate of Won-san is dry and healthy. The heat 
is tempered by sea breezes and the nights are cool. The 
mean temperature for the summer is seventy-three degrees, 
and for the winter twenty-nine degrees ; the rajnfall is forty- 






WON SAN 175 

four inches, a little greater than that upon the west coast. 
Snow falls to a depth of four feet, covering the mountains 
from October until May. The port is, however, rather 
cooler than Chemulpo in summer and a little warmer in 
winter, the dryness of the atmosphere considerably modify- 
ing the cold. The splendour of an autumn sky continues 
throughout the winter, when the principal shooting is to be 
obtained. 

Much historical interest attaches to many of the more 
beautiful spots in the vicinity. From this neighbourhood 
sprang the kings of Ancient Ko-ryo ; and again, it gave birth 
to the reigning house of Cho-syon, for, in the monastery of 
Sok-wan, twenty-two miles distant, A Tai-cho, the first king 
of the present dynasty, was educated and lived. The 
monastery itself, with its temples, was erected by the 
King to mark the spot where, 509 years ago, he received 
that supernatural summons to rule, in virtue of which his 
descendants now occupy the throne. In the seclusion of 
this beautiful spot, the early years of A Tai-cho were passed in 
meditation, study, and preparation for his future kingship. 
Many of the magnificent trees, which embower the temples 
and rise in stately dignity from the grand mountain clefts, 
in which the monastery is situated, are reputed to have been 
planted by his hands. In a building apart, into which no 
one is allowed to enter, save the monk in whose keeping the 
relics are placed, his regalia and robes of State are preserved 
to this day. 

Won-san is situated in the southern corner of the pro- 
vince of Ham-kyong. A considerable portion of its trade is 
carried on with the closely adjoining divisions of Pyong-an 
and Kang-won, the three provinces forming the northern 
half of the kingdom ; their population is variously estimated 



ij6 KOREA 

at between three and five millions. Mountains predominate 
in these districts. A bewildering tangle of wooded hills 
and bleak peaks meets the eye, jumbling and jostling one 
another in every direction until nothing is seen but broken 
mountains and ridges cleft into a thousand little valleys. 
More especially is this the case in Ham-kyong and Kang-won ; 
in Pyong-an the valleys broaden out and the hills become 
lower and less frequent, giving place to the Ta-dong River, 
and many wide spaces for agricultural purposes. Among 
these broken ranges in the neighbourhood of Won-san, and 
towards the interior, there is much sport. Sable, ermine, 
and otter are trapped in Northern Ham-kyong ; tigers, 
leopards, bears, wolves and foxes are rare in fact, plentiful 
in fiction. Wild boar, deer and hares are not uncommon ; 
pheasants are less numerous than formerly. Snipe appear 
in August, duck in September, geese and wild fowl in the 
winter on the marshes and lagoons. There is much game 
upon the land, and there is much sport in the sea. Whales, 
shark, seal, salmon, and innumerable small species wait to 
be caught, the products of sea and land combining to make 
the place a sportsman's paradise. 

The approach to the treaty port of Fusan is through a 
bay strewn with green islands and encompassed by high 
cliffs. A narrow path, skirting the shore and running over 
the cliffs, leads presently to Old Fusan, a walled city of great 
antiquity, situated at the end of a stretch of ten miles of sea, 
which forms one of the arms of the bay. New Fusan is like 
every other Korean treaty port. The smells of the Japanese 
settlement were worse, however, very much worse, as I well 
remember, than any which rose from the sewers and slimy 
alleys of the old town. Old Fusan stands alone, at the head 
of the bay, looking down from its ruined and crumbling 



FUSAN 



177 



walls across the waste of water, musing in decrepit isolation 
upon departed glories. New Fusan, the foreign quarter, is 
very noisy, very dirty, and uncomfortable. The Japanese 
shopkeepers make little attempt to provide for other aliens ; 
the wretched hotel demurs at receiving them. The place is 




IN NEW FUSAN 



thoroughly Japanese, prosperous, active, and enduring. It is 
the focus of the tumble-down steamers which run between the 
ports of Korea and Japan, venturing even to Taku, Port 
Arthur and Vladivostock. Upon all sides there is the appear- 
ance of industry and trade, inseparable from any Japanese 
community. In conjunction with the Seoul-Fusan Railway 
a vast scheme of harbour reclamation is in progress. This 
will provide suitable sites for godowns, in which the port is 
sadly deficient. The making of roads, the installation of 
electric light, and the construction of large waterworks are 
the objects which have already received the attention of the 

z 



178 KOREA 

Japanese authorities. There is a Japanese Consul -General 
in Fusan, who administers Japanese law to some fourteen 
thousand of his fellow countrymen. Half of this number is 
comprised in the floating population, whose sole business is 
fishing. The valuable fisheries lying off the coast and in the 
adjacent archipelago return an annual yield of ten million 
herring and half a million cod. Altogether, the bustle and 
confusion of the place supports its claim to be the most im- 
portant of the treaty ports of Korea, in spite of the neglect 
with which British merchants treat it. The actual Japanese 
population of the Fusan settlement in 1901 was seven 
thousand and fourteen, an increase of more than one 
thousand upon the returns of the previous year — six 
thousand and four. Since then there has been a further 
increase, and the population at the present time falls little 
short of nine thousand. 

The activity of the Japanese in the open ports of Korea 
does not correspond in any way to the size of the port. 
Whatever may be the local conditions, there is no falling-off 
in their untiring enterprise. If the port has been established 
ten or twenty years, or only one, their commercial vigour is 
the same. After the settlements of Won-san, Fusan, and 
Chemulpo, a visit to the port of Mok-po, declared open in 
the autumn of 1897, ^ a ^ s t° elicit much which is new or 
important. Mok-po is very small. To those who are in- 
terested in the subject, it gives an excellent example of the 
cool, resolute manner in which the Japanese build up a very 
flourishing settlement upon the foundations of an unpre- 
possessing native village. The pioneers of the ports in 
Korea, it is natural that they should select the best available 
sites for their own quarter. At Mok-po, repeating a system 
which was adopted in the case of Fusan, Won-san, and 



MOK PO * 179 

Chemulpo, the Japanese settlement commands the one 
situation which is adaptable for commercial purposes. The 
approaches to Mok-po lie through a network of island and 
rock-strewn channels, the largest of which is some six 
hundred yards wide. The harbour is the embouchure of the 
River Ru-yong-san, the main water-way of the province, 
some ninety miles long. It can accommodate forty vessels 
of large tonnage. The best passage is through Lyne Sound, 
but easy access is given, from the south, by Washington 
Gulf. The width of the harbour is a little less than two 
miles, with a depth at low water of eleven fathoms, rising to 
nineteen on a full tide. At ebb tide the current averages 
five knots an hour ; during the spring tides this velocity 
increases, adding to the disadvantages offered by an 
indifferent holding-ground. 

Mok-po is situated in the south-western corner of the 
Province of Chyol-la, sometimes called the granary of 
Korea. The port takes its name from a large island, which 
faces it on the north, and forms the entrance to the river. 
It is picturesque and stands sufficiently high to break the 
monotony of the surrounding country. Rough and barren 
to look upon, it possesses the nucleus of what will become 
an important settlement as trade increases. The buildings 
of the Japanese Consulate and the. Customs House are the 
most imposing structures at present in the place. The 
British Consulate, a mass of rock, unadorned, bluff, bare 
and bleak, is the most desolate and depressing. A vista 
of mud flats does not add to the beauty of this spot. A 
well-built sea-wall, behind which some acres of marshy 
shore have been reclaimed, indicates the spirit in which the 
Japanese set to work to improve their concessions. 

A composite trade centres at Mok-po, exceeding one 



i8o 



KOREA 




hundred thousand pounds in value. Foreign imports stand for 
quite eighty thousand of this total. It is, perhaps, needless to 
add that no British shipping has entered the harbour within 
the six years of its existence. German and American 
steamers have nevertheless brought cargoes to Mok-po ; 
Japanese steamers touch regularly. The trade is that of 

a native market, 
whose demands 
can be furnished 
from Japan ; it is, 
of course, beneath 
the notice of the 
British exporter. 
Piece goods, Jap- 
anese and Ameri- 
can cigarettes, 
matches, yarn, ar- 
ticles which the 
humbler classes now use and for which, owing to the 
rapidly increasing native population of this south-western 
Province, there will be greater demand in the future, make 
up the trade. 

It may be that this port, despised by the British 
merchant, as are all the ports of Korea, will some day head 
the centres of commerce of the kingdom. Even now it 
attracts foreign goods from Japan, America, and Germany. 
There are many channels through which British wares, 
cheap, enduring, practical and suitable to prevailing condi- 
tions could filter to the advantage of the British merchant. 
Cereals are raised in large quantities, straw-matting, grass- 
cloth, paper and fans are the other native manufactures. A 
vein of bituminous coal has been struck within a short dis- 



PAI.ACE GATEWAY 



LOCAL INDUSTRIES 181 

tance of the port. In two industries — the making of paper 
and the weaving of grass-cloth — there are opportunities for 
expansion, which any enterprising and intelligent agent 
could promote by introducing cheap chemicals and inex- 
pensive mechanical appliances. In the paper-making trade 
alone there is a rich harvest to be garnered by the firm who 
will choose to devote time, energy and patience to the 
creation of a business in alkalies. Already the basis of a 
remunerative connection exists among the villages devoted 
to this labour. 



CHAPTER XV 

Treaty Ports {continued)— Wi-ju— Syon-chyon-po— Chin-am- 
po — Pyong-yang — Kun-san — Syong-chin 

The ports which remain to be mentioned, have not yet 
attained a commercial importance entitling them to any 
great consideration. They afford, however, a signal illustra- 
tion of the enterprising spirit in which the Koreans have 
met the demands made upon them, and, as the interests 
of the country increase, the natural expansion of the inland 
trade will enhance their value. 

Hitherto, Southern Korea has been better served in the 
matter of open ports than the northern half of the kingdom. 
With the addition to the list of treaty ports of Syong-chin, 
upon the north-eastern coast, and Chin-am-po (with 
Pyong-yang, an old-time capital of Korea, and ranking 
to-day as the third city of the Empire, in close proximity), 
upon the western coast, greater facilities have been accorded 
to the commercial development of the almost unknown 
markets of Northern Korea. In view, however, of the trade 
in the southern provinces of the kingdom, the port of Kun- 
san was created on the west coast simultaneously with the 
opening of Syong-chin in 1899 upon the north-east shore. 
This port lies between Chemulpo and Mok-po, at the mouth 
of the Keum River, the natural boundary between the 
two provinces, Chyol-la and Chyung-Chyong. 



WI JU . 183 

It is, nevertheless, to the north and north-east regions 
that foreign commerce must look for that impetus to 
industrial activity, which comes from the opening of 
new markets. A most important trade-centre already 
exists in Wi-ju, at the mouth of the Yalu river. This 
town requires to be opened ; in the meantime, its position 
upon the border of Manchuria attracts a varied and valuable 
direct trade. Moreover, if Wi-ju were brought under the 
administration and control of the Maritime Customs of 
Korea, and included among those ports which have already 
been declared, a greater restraint could be put upon the 
smugglers, who have made it a centre of communication 
in their illicit trade. At this moment it is difficult to say 
whether Wi-ju may be quite properly included among the 
treaty ports. If official assurances can be safely accepted, 
the Government of Korea decided on August 22nd, 1903, to 
declare Wi-ju an open port, at the same time placing a 
Customs house at Yong-an-po. The difference between 
the two is hardly greater than that separating Pyong-yang 
from Chin-am-po. Unfortunately, this decision is by no 
means definite, although a few days later, on September 4th, 
an announcement to the same effect was made by the 
Foreign Office at Seoul to the foreign representatives. This 
official ratification of its previous decision would carry 
conviction if the policy of the Korean Cabinet were less 
vacillating, and the opposition of the Russian Minister less 
strenuous. The Russian Minister objects in an equal 
degree to the opening of Yong-an-po, and, since M. Colin 
de Plancy, the French Minister, is supporting his Russian 
colleague, M. Pavloff, in opposition to the opening of Wi-ju, 
future developments may prove M. Pavloff to have with- 
drawn his objections against Wi-ju in order that he can 



1 84 KOREA 

concentrate them upon Yong-an-po. Unfortunately for 
Russian interests, British policy in Korea favours the 
opening of both ports, an action in which Mr. Jordan, the 
British Minister in Seoul, is cordially supported by many 
of his colleagues. 

The action of the British Government in respect of 
these ports on the Yalu is quite encouraging, and it is 
equally satisfactory to see that Mr. Jordan has maintained 
his attitude with admirable consistency. The demand of 
the British Government was presented to his Majesty at a 
special audience on July 14th, 1903. It evoked at once the 
opposition of the Russians, whose objections were com- 
municated officially to the Korean Government when, a 
few days later, the British Minister sent a despatch to the 
Foreign Office to inquire upon what date Wi-ju would 
become an open port. Meanwhile, the Japanese Minister 
reiterated the request of the British Government, which, at 
the same time, was supported by an identical demand from 
the Chinese Foreign Office, through the Korean Minister in 
Pekin. For a few days matters remained stationary, the 
situation becoming a little involved by the resignation of 
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yi To-chai, upon the plea 
of ill-health. The Emperor refused the resignation, and 
on August 9th the British Minister sent an urgent despatch, 
which demanded the opening of Wi-ju within seven days. 
A few days later a decision, favourable to the request of the 
British Minister, was delivered, and it remains to be seen 
whether permanent effect will be given to it. Meanwhile, 
as the readiest means of giving effect to the new dignity of 
the port, a small posse of Japanese police has been sent to 
Wi-ju to protect the settlement. 

Syon-chyon-po, the youngest of the open ports, is in its 



SYON CHYON PO 185 

very early days. It is situated about forty miles to the 
south of Wi-ju. Its future prosperity is uncertain, but 
from its position, midway between Chin-am-po and Wi-ju, 
it should become an important port of call for native 




CHEMULPO 



shipping. At present Syon-chyon-po is administered from 
Chin-am-po, but the lines of its future settlement have 
been planned, and it will doubtless develop into a thriving 
Japanese colony. For the moment there is little trade. 

The Ta-dong River, at the estuary of which Chin-am-po 
lies, is one of the most important and picturesque streams 
in the country. It drains the southern and south-eastern 
divisions of Pyong-an Province ; upon its banks, sixty- 
seven miles from the sea, is Pyong-yang, the early capital 
and oldest city of the Empire. Around Pyong-yang still 
lingers a host of romantic associations, historical and 
legendary. Towns and villages are found upon the banks 
of the Ta-dong ; there is much rugged beauty in the 
scenery, and the water-shed has landmarks of great 
physical and historical importance. The velocity of the 



1 86 KOREA 

river current during the spring tides averages three and 
a quarter knots. During the ebb, over against the Chin- 
am-po bank, there is an increase of two knots caused by a 
projecting point upon the opposite shore of the river. The 
formation of the Ta-dong inlet is irregular ; many indenta- 
tions, which mark the outline of the anchorage, become mud 
flats at low water. Prior to the selection of Chin-am-po as a 
treaty port, the native village consisted of a few straggling 
huts and a population of less than one thousand. Now, 
however, the old order has given way to the new. The 
mud flats have been reclaimed and so many improve- 
ments have taken place in the general conditions of the 
port that a bright future may be confidently predicted 
for it. 

Chin-am-po, the settlement, is situated upon the 
northern shore of the Ta-dong inlet, about fifteen miles 
from its entrance in the extreme south-west of Pyong-an 
Province. The port was opened to foreign trade in October 
1897. During the few years of its existence as an open port, 
Chin-am-po has made no little progress. At the present 
time it gives promise of becoming an exceedingly important 
commercial centre. The increase of the foreign trade and 
the flourishing condition of the native market have attracted 
the attention of the Japanese, who have already made a con- 
siderable settlement in the port. Estimates of the native 
population vary from fifteen to forty thousand, the smaller 
figure being nearer the mark. The trade compares favour- 
ably, in point of value and bulk, with that of ports of equal 
capacity, similarly situated. Its development is somewhat 
restricted, the two great forces contributing to its material 
economy being the impetus which has been given to local 
agricultural resources, and the mining industry. When the 



PYONG YANG 187 

concessions of the American and British Mining Companies 
at Un-san and Eun-san were granted, Chin-am-po became 
the port of shipment for much of their traffic. 

The commercial possibilities of the region, which lies 
between the Ta-dong River and the water-shed of the Yalu, 
are in the earliest stages of development. Much might be 
predicted of the returns which these new fields would yield 
to intelligent exploitation. Cut off from the eastern division 
of the kingdom by ranges of mountains, and extending from 
Po-reup-san, near Chin-am-po, in the south, to the moun- 
tain fastnesses of the northern frontiers of the Empire, is a 
stretch of country in part uninhabited. It is frequented by 
bands of Korean robbers and Chinese bandits ; the centre 
of much native mining and the scene of perpetual border 
warfare. The haunt of the wild beast, barren and almost im- 
penetrable, it is practically untouched by Western civilisation. 
Its groves of pines and firs, and acres of woods, recall the 
time when Northern Korea was one vast forest. Until quite 
lately there were but two open ports for the service of this 
region, Chin-am-po and Pyong-yang. The third, Syon-chyon- 
po, in its northern extremity, is still closed to Europeans. 
Gold and coal, iron and copper, are among its natural 
resources. The soil is productive ; and the moment is 
ripe for the initiation of industrial enterprises. Moreover, 
commercial prosperity would introduce a more pacific note 
into the condition of these lone lands. 

Pyong-yang lies upon the borders of an extensive anthra- 
cite and bituminous coal district. The outcroppings are 
plainly traceable, although at present not indicative of any 
very serviceable quality of fuel. Coal, however, is not the 
least of the minerals, nor are the resources of the soil con- 
fined to the production of beans. Stone quarrying and the 



1 88 KOREA 

timber industry flourish in the province. The authentic 
records of Pyong-yang go back some three thousand years, 
the creation of the city coinciding with that of the Kingdom 
of Israel. Saul, David, and Solomon were the contem- 
poraries of Ki-ja and his successors. In more modern times 
the most stirring events recorded are the massacre of the crew 
of the "General Sherman," in 1866, and the long chapter of 
vicissitudes which befell the city during the Chino-Japanese 
campaign. The ravages of war and the devastation of pes- 
tilence in 1895 left a deserted and ruined city. Nevertheless, 
as if to remind the inhabitants of the former dignity of their 
town, the tide of its fortunes turned, and some measure of 
prosperity returned. In the interval, trade revived ; a small 
foreign community now lives within the walls, and it is 
hoped that the days of evil omen are as distant as are the 
times when this old-world capital first enclosed herself 
within protecting walls. Commercially and industrially it 
has advanced enormously ; and, as a sign of the times, 
may be mentioned the fact that the native community has 
founded a private English Language school. Pyong-yang 
is associated so intimately with Chin-am-po that the two 
are inseparably united in any survey of the fortunes of 
either. Nevertheless, the continuation of Pyong-yang as 
an open port is uncertain, the Korean Government 
having expressed the intention of closing the port if they 
are compelled to throw open Wi-ju. The British, American 
and Japanese representatives have resolutely opposed this 
suggestion. 

The port of Kun-san, which was thrown open in May 
1899, to foreign settlement and general trade, taps channels 
in the main identical with those which supply Mok-po. 
Depending to a great extent upon the agricultural resources 



KUN SAN 189 

of the provinces of Chyol-la and Chyung-chyong, its trade is 
confined to the exportation of cereals, such as rice, wheat, 
and beans ; of grass-cloth, paper, and bamboo articles ; and 
of varieties of fish and seaweed. When the railway between 
Seoul and Fusan is completed, the development of the agri- 
cultural resources of these areas will re-act upon the 
fortunes of this port. It is, however, quietly thriving in the 
interval, content to play a prominent role in the coast trade 
rather than to figure as a port of call, in any exchange of com- 
modities with China and Japan. In early days, the port itself 
was well known as the export station for revenue rice, when 
the Government revenues were paid in grain. The practice 
has not been maintained in more recent years. In Kun-san 
there is an increasing colony of Japanese, a large native 
population, and a small Chinese community. The import 
trade, however, is confined to Japanese manufactures, in- 
cluding, broadly, those counterfeits of foreign goods — Man- 
chester shirtings, Chinese lawns, Indian yarns, American 
kerosene and English and Swedish matches — in the produc- 
tion of which our lively imitators have attained an unusual 
standard of perfection. 

The most isolated of all the open ports is Syong-chin, upon 
the north-eastern coast, in the province of Ham-kyong, 
about one hundred and twenty miles from Won-san. It 
was opened in May 1899 ; the trade, principally with 
Won-san, and carried on by Japanese, is unimportant. 
There is a field for expansion, as gold, copper, and coal 
exist within a short distance of the town. There are also 
white granite quarries in the neighbourhood. The off- 
shore sea-fishing supports a colony of Japanese ; large 
numbers of cattle are raised for the market in the province, 
and the country around is under cultivation for beans. The 



190 KOREA 

export trade is in beans, hides, and fish ; the imports include 
kerosene, matches, and cotton goods. There is no direct 
native trade with Japan. The present condition of Syong- 
chin suggests that it was once a fortified town of import- 
ance. There are the ruins of a high protecting wall, 
surmounted with watch-towers and battlements. Time, 
poverty and neglect are responsible for its present im- 
poverished condition. There is a small native population. 
The anchorage is little more than an open roadstead. It is 
easy of access, deep, and has an excellent holding. Vessels 
drawing ten feet can lie within a short distance of the shore. 
Fogs and high winds prevail in spring, but, upon the 
whole, the climate is more temperate at all seasons than 
Won-san. 

The port lies near the 41st parallel, facing nearly north- 
east, midway between Won-san and Vladivostock. The pre- 
vailing wind, winter and summer, blows from the south-west. 
It is only in times of atmospheric disturbance, an infrequent 
condition in these latitudes, that a north-east blow renders 
the anchorage unsafe, and compels vessels to shift their 
moorings to the north-east end of the bay, where the 
Sarako headland gives them shelter. Water to the depth 
of five fathoms obtains within 200 yards of the shore. The 
rise and fall of spring tides is about two feet. No 
obstacles present themselves to the building of a landing- 
stage and boat harbour. When the port was opened, a few 
huts represented the native town. Since then about 
250 houses have been erected, and more are being 
built. At no distant date it is probable that Syong-chin 
will displace the neighbouring Im-myong as the market 
place. The foreign community is represented by a Japanese 
Consul and staff, Japanese police force and postal staff, 



SYONG CHIN 191 

schoolmaster, shipping agent and workmen. A British 
doctor and his family, belonging to the Canadian Mission, 
reside there. The only foreign house erected within 
the settlement limits is that occupied by the Japanese 
Consul. 



CHAPTER XVI 

Russian interests — Russia and Japan — Ma-san-po — Ching-kai- 
wan — Yong-an-po 

Russian industrial activity in Korea may be regarded as 
a cloak for political schemes. Since the time that the 
Emperor became the protected guest of the Russian Lega- 
tion, the influence of Russia in Korea has been more definite 
in quality. Assisted by French capital, a Russian company 
has started recently a cattle ranch and sheep-run at A-ya-chin, 
on the coast of Kang-won Province, with a view to the 
establishment of a canning factory, which is now in process 
of construction. In addition to this, she has set up a glass 
factory at Seoul, a proceeding which throws no light upon 
her motives. She has promoted the Pacific Whale Fishing 
Company, which, plying its trade off the coast of Korea, 
collects very valuable information of unsurveyed bays 
and unsounded anchorages, water-holes, coal-deposits, and 
currents — and occasionally catches a whale. It possesses 
twelve vessels. Russia controls no railway line in Korea, 
although she is interested in the line which the French are 
building ; no gold mine, but a geographical exploration 
party of naval officers has been topographically examining 
the region of the Yalu River for some years. She has been 
accorded certain rights in Ma-san-po ; she is endeavouring 



RUSSIAN INTERESTS 193 

to secure the concession of a site suitable for a naval 
station, and through virtue of a lumber felling concession 
on the Yalu, she has located herself at Yong-an-po. In 
May 1903, too, a commercial commission travelled from 
Seoul to Wi-ju, overland. 

As rapidly as circumstances permit, Russia is connecting 
her Manchurian telegraphic system with the trunk lines of 
Korea, and telegraphic communication is in course of con- 
struction between Mukden and Wi-ju, Vladivostock and 
Won-san. The action of Russia in this respect has en- 
countered very great opposition from Korea. When the 
Korean Cabinet declined to grant permission for the 
erection of the poles, for which the Russian engineers had 
not waited, M. Pavloff, the Russian Minister, delicately 
hinted that the removal of the poles would be regarded 
as an unfriendly act, and one liable to create unpleasantness 
between the two Governments. The Korean Government, 
however, were not frightened into drawing back, and for 
some months past the local officials have been occupied in 
cutting down whatever poles the Russians might erect. 
Russia, also, proposes to rebuild the telegraph line from 
Pekin to Seoul via Wi-ju, while further, it is her avowed 
intention to construct from Mukden a branch of her 
railway to An-tung on the Yalu River. 

Russia has been associated, also, with the Korean army, 
the Russian military authorities having lent a number of 
drill-instructors to the Korean service. They have now 
been withdrawn. The management of the residence, in 
which apartments are found for the guests of the Imperial 
Court, has been entrusted to a Russian lady. There are 
very few Russian residents in Seoul. Those who live there 
comprise the immediate personnel of the Legation, the 

2 B 



194 KOREA 

Legation guards, priests of the Greek Church, and some 
sprinkling of the shop-keeping element. The colony is small, 
but contrives, with the aid of a port guardship at Chemulpo 
and constant visits from the Pacific Squadron, when per- 
formances are given by the band from the guard-ship for 
the delectation of the Imperial Court, to support the majesty 
and dignity of the Russian Government with much impressive 
display. Proposals have been recently made to establish 
consulates in the open ports of the Empire — the Consulate 
from the capital is now established at Chemulpo ; to increase 
the services of the steamers of the Manchurian Railway 
between the open ports of Korea and Manchuria, and to 
found a branch of the Russo-Chinese Bank at Chemulpo. 
It is intended, too, that the Russian Pacific Squadron shall 
use the Korean harbours more frequently as ports of call. 

For some years Russia has been gradually feeling her 
way in Korea. Prior to 1885 there were over twenty 
thousand Koreans settled in her Far Eastern possessions, 
while in 1888 Russia concluded a Commercial Convention 
with Korea, which opened the Korean land frontier to 
Russian traders. In 1893 telegraphic communication 
between Russia and Korea was arranged, when, just as 
the Russian policy towards Korea perhaps was beginning 
to shape itself, war between China and Japan was declared. 
Whatever conclusions may have been anticipated as the 
results of such a war, there can be no doubt that its effect 
upon the actual destinies of Russia and Japan in the Far 
East was far-reaching. The policy of Russia towards 
China underwent a change, while the ultimate possession 
of Korea became equally the objective of Japan as of 
the greater Power. Russia, however, could not afford 
to profit at the moment by the downfall of China, and 



RUSSIA AND JAPAN 195 

Japan was not strong enough to hold the Liao-tung 
Peninsula nor bold enough to seize Korea. Nevertheless, 
driven out of the Liao-tung by the action of Russia, France 
and Germany, Japan might still have secured for herself 
complete material and political ascendency over Korea. In 
time, if such had been her policy, she could have made 
manifest, too, her occupation of the kingdom and equipped 
herself with an argument, the parallel of that possessed by 
Great Britain in Egypt, and by Russia in Manchuria. Un- 
happily, while Russia with masterly deliberation was moving 
steadily forward in her subjugation of Manchuria, Japan, 
whole-hearted but ignorant of the pitfalls of colonial ex- 
pansion, was creating endless difficulties for herself in Korea, 
besides serious complications with the Powers outside the 
scenes of her activities. Before she had realised the poten- 
tialities of her position, she had committed herself to a 
design by which she hoped to secure the King and Queen 
and to direct herself the reins of government. But her 
coup d'etat was to recoil disastrously, and at once, upon her 
own head. The Queen fell a victim to the plot, and 
although the King was imprisoned, he, together with the 
Crown Prince, contrived in a little time to find refuge 
in the Russian Legation. The escape of the King only 
emphasised the failure of Japan, and despite her subsequent 
treaties with Russia, in respect of Korea, the balance of 
power in the Far East as between Russia and Japan has 
never quite recovered from the blow which Japan adminis- 
tered herself to her own prestige upon this occasion. 

Japan still wields material influence of a high order in 
Korea. But, within the paramount position which she 
fills, there is the rift caused by the spread of the antagonistic 
and insidious influence of her great opponent. Curiously 



196 KOREA 

enough, the position which Russia holds to-day is not 
nearly as assertive as that which she occupied in 1896, yet 
there is little doubt that her influence is more commanding, 
if less conspicuously aggressive. Japan has turned aside 
upon occasion from the political issues to develop her com- 
mercial interests. Russia, again, has pursued unswerving 
the policy which revealed with the fall of China the fact 
that Manchuria was within her grasp and that Korea was 
its entail. 

The action of Russia upon the Yalu River at the present 
time, her action in respect of Won-san in the past, are each 
animated by this motiv. Russia regards Korea as the com- 
pletion of her dominions in the Far East, while Japan looks 
upon the little kingdom as the corollary to that expansion 
which is essential to the existence of the Island Empire. 
Russia in Manchuria and Korea, with her shadow projected 
over China, would mean a sentence of perpetual restriction 
and shrinkage for Japan. But, similarly, Russia from her 
position at Vladivostock and Port Arthur must regard the 
occupation of Korea by Japan as a wedge with its point 
projected towards the centre of her Manchurian communi- 
cations. Just as, therefore, the fear of a Russian descent 
upon Korea has excited Japan, the necessity for such action 
has brought the crisis in the relations between Japan and 
Russia so perceptibly nearer. Private agreements and 
secret overtures have paved the way for the denouement 
which long since was disclosed. When Russia endeavoured 
to requisition the harbour of Ma-san-po for the requirements 
of her Pacific Squadron, an indication was afforded that 
Russian activity in Korea would be concealed no longer. 
Ma-san-po has since become an open port, the Government 
of Japan at once formulating ingenious objections to the 



198 KOREA 

Russian scheme at the same time that they threatened the 
Government of Korea with threats of immediate reprisals. But 
prior to the conditions laid down by Russia in the Ma-san-po 
Convention of 1900 with the Korean Government, this 
magnificent harbour had already attracted the attention of 
the Japanese and Chinese settlers. By force of circum- 
stances, therefore, the place became an open port, the local 
authorities being powerless to check the influx of foreigners 
and the creation of a foreign zone around the harbour. 
That M. Pavloff, the clever Russian diplomatic representative 
in Seoul, succeeded in bringing about any agreement at all is 
remarkable, taking into account the panic-stricken state to 
which the Imperial Government was reduced by Japanese 
intimidation. The secret convention between the Russian 
and Korean Governments, entered into during 1900, pre- 
served the independence of the harbour, and, failing to con- 
firm Russia in the definite occupation of Ma-san-po, provided 
that none of the land about Ma-san-po harbour or its 
approaches should be permanently ceded or sold to any 
foreign Power. The same conditions applied to the island 
of Keu-chai, situated in the mouth of the harbour. This cur- 
tailment of the ambitions of Russian policy, in this particular 
direction, due, of course, to the energetic action of Japan, 
did not make the position of Russia in Ma-san-po in any 
sense secure. Japan, even then upon the eve of her declara- 
tion, would have gone to war with Russia, if that Power had 
attempted to maintain an isolated and complete domination 
of this harbour and its approaches against her wishes. 

There is nothing in the present condition of Ma-san-po 
which suggests that it may become a centre of Russian 
influence in Southern Korea. The Japanese demanded, 
even before the incident had quite blown over, a large tract 



MA SAN PO 199 

of land at Ma-san-po for the purposes of making a settle- 
ment there. In addition to this, the quarter, marked off for 
foreign settlements, has been almost wholly appropriated by 
the Japanese, who have erected shops and houses of some 
importance to the extent of several hundred, upon the more 
suitable sites. Japanese postal and telegraphic offices have 
been opened in Ma-san-po, and an uncomfortable hostelry 
disturbs the rest of the weary. A large permanent staff 
of Japanese police has been detached for duty in Ma-san-po, 
and the next feature in the development of affairs will be 
the detailing of a port guardship and the usual infantry 
garrison to protect the Japanese settlement. These acts 
imply a permanent lease and constitute the methods 
by which the Japanese propose to invalidate the Russo- 
Korean Convention. The aim of Japanese policy in Ma-san-po 
is to discount as far as possible the rights of the Russians, 
and to deprive their existence in the harbour of any special 
significance. The Russians accept the position with extreme 
philosophy and indifference. If they wished to do so, they 
might raise protest after protest against the intrusive 
character of Japanese action in the areas affected by the 
clauses of the Agreement of 1900. 

Twelve months ago the foreign population of Ma-san-po 
consisted of two hundred and thirty Japanese, forty-one 
Chinese, eighteen Russians, and two Germans. These 
figures include male and female heads of population, but 
no children. The actual strength of the Russian colony in 
this harbour was eight men, ten women, three children ; of 
the Japanese only seventy-eight were females. There is 
little import and export traffic. The nearness of Fusan, 
which is only six hours distant, makes it unnecessary to 
trade direct with the settlement. Japanese steamers from 



2oo KOREA 

Fusan call daily, local ["produce being brought round by 
native junks. There is a large fishing industry off the 
harbour ; it is, however, quite controlled by Japanese fisher- 
men from Fusan. The principal industry on shore is the 
construction of the settlement, some little agriculture, and 
no little gossip. 

Since the failure of her efforts to secure Ma-san-po, 
Russia has endeavoured to obtain the lease of Ching-kai- 
wan, sometimes called Chin-hai or Shin-hai, a bay situated 
in the extreme south of the Korean peninsula, as a naval 
station. The position of this harbour is exactly midway 
between Vladivostock and Port Arthur. Owing to its 
geographical situation, the presence of Russia in sole 
possession of Ching-kai-wan would be certain to give rise 
to even greater demonstrations of hostility from the people 
and Government of Japan than did the Ma-san-po incident. 
Nam-pu, which it was then Russia's object to secure, is about 
twenty miles outside the limits of the treaty port of Ma-san-po. 
While the Japanese Government could not prevent Russia 
from obtaining a coaling-station for the Russian Steamship 
Company within the boundaries of the foreign set lement of 
Ma-san-po, she most strenuously protested against a grant of 
land for Russian naval purposes twenty miles away. Japan 
likewise resists the establishment of a Russian naval depot 
at Ching-kai-wan, where there is no treaty port, and to 
which, were the " lease " confirmed, only Russia would have 
a right of access. 

Ching-kai-wan is within a few hours' steam of that Port 
Hamilton which Great Britain was induced to relinquish, 
upon the understanding between Russia and China that 
Russia would not seek to acquire territory in Korea. The 
excuse, since put forward by Russia for the flagrant violation 



YONG AN PO 201 

of this compact, is that it was a bargain made with China, 
and not with us. There is another, and still more extra- 
ordinary feature in connection with this affair, which 
Li Hung Chang confided to a diplomatic representative of 
a foreign Power, at Pekin, some years ago. The Chinese 
statesman admitted that the contract between China and 
Russia contained a private stipulation that it should be good 
for ten years only. In other words, Great Britain was led 
to withdraw from Port Hamilton on the pretence that 
Russia would never trespass on Korean soil, although there 
was a secret understanding between China and Russia at 
the time, that this arrangement should only be in force for 
one decade. 

Although the position of affairs in regard to the action 
of Russia at Yong-an-po is of recent prominence, the 
question goes back in reality to the autumn of 1896, when 
a Russian merchant in Vladivostock, M. Briinner by name, 
obtained from the Korean Government the right of felling 
lumber and planting trees on the banks of the Yalu and 
Tumen Rivers, as well as on the island of Ul-lyang, for 
twenty years. The concession was to be forfeited unless 
work was begun in five years. As the close of the period 
drew near, the Russian agent in Seoul applied for an ex- 
tension of three years. At the moment it was reported in 
Seoul that this request of M. Pavloff had been refused, but 
it transpired subsequently that an agreement had been 
drawn up to the following effect between the superin- 
tendent, appointed by the Korean Government to oversee 
the matters, and the inspector in charge of the interests of 
of the company in Yong-an-po : 

1. The said district in Yong-an-po shall be rented to the 
Russian company. 

2 c 



202 KOREA 

2. The boundaries of the said district shall be defined by 
the Russian Minister and the Minister in charge of the 
Foreign Office of the Korean Government. 

3. The Russian company shall pay a land-tax to the 
Korean Government. 

4. If the owners of tombs within this district wish to 
remove them, the expense of removal shall be borne by 
the Russian company. 

5. If the company wish to utilise wood which Koreans 
have cut and are bringing down the river, it must reimburse 
the owners with a fair and proper price. 

6. The Russian company shall not raise any stock 
within this district except what is to be used therein. 

7. Korean offenders within this district shall be dealt 
with by the Korean courts. Russian offenders shall be 
dealt with by Russian civil officers. 

These contracts were signed on July 20th, 1903, by the 
Korean official Cho Sung-hyup and the Russian Inspector 
Bojisco. 

Meanwhile, however, in May 1903, prior to the decision 
of the Korean Government in the matter, the prefect of 
Wi-ju reported the concentration of Russian troops at 
An-tung for the purpose of crossing the Yalu. A few days 
later, a detached party of forty of these men crossed the 
stream, halting on a small island in mid-river to discard their 
uniforms, so that they might enter Yong-an-po in private 
clothes. From Yong-an-po they moved to Yong-chyon, 
near Wi-ju, where, accompanied by one hundred Chinese 
and eighty Koreans, they founded a lumber settlement, 
buying seventeen houses, with twelve acres of land at- 
tached, in the name of two of their Korean employes. 
The presence of the colony was at once objected to by the 



20 4 KOREA 

Korean Government, who threatened M. Pavloff with the 
rupture of relations if the settlement were not at once 
withdrawn. M. Pavloff, however, defended the existence 
of the lumber camp under powers obtained from the 
Forest Concession of 1896, which, in actuality, had not 
been re-affirmed at the moment. Early in the next month, 
June, the magistrate at Yong-chyon reported that another 
party of Russians had arrived at Yong-an-po, including in 
all three Russian women, thirty-six men, two hundred 
Chinese, and many horses. These were reinforced in July by 
three women and sixty men, for the most part carrying rifles 
and swords, and who, also, at once bought houses and land. 
The action of these people has assumed a specific 
direction. A few, as though anxious. to give colour to their 
existence as a lumber settlement and in defiance of orders 
from the Korean local officials, while quite exceeding the 
clauses of the concession proper, persisted in felling trees 
on the areas of a prohibited reserve. Meantime the re- 
mainder of the party, by no means idle, began the con- 
struction of a bund on the Yalu extending over a distance of 
twenty-one miles, a light railway being laid down for the 
purpose. In addition to this work developments of a more 
permanent character were taken in hand ; stone buildings 
appeared, a factory was constructed, and extensive defensive 
measures adopted. To confirm these indications of Russian 
occupation of the Yalu reaches, a body of seventy soldiers 
crossed the river at Cho-san, a second party of eighty men 
coming over at Pyok-tong. The Russians then proceeded 
to bring these various scattered " lumber " settlements into 
communication, for this purpose erecting a telegraph line 
between Wi-ju and Yong-an-po. This line, however, the 
Koreans at once cut down, whereupon the Russians began 
to lay a submarine cable from Yong-an-po round the coast 



YONG AN PO 205 

and up the Yalu River to An-tung in place of the line 
across country from Yong-an-po to Manchuria. Since the 
cable projects were important and, together with the settle- 
ment at Yong-an-po, much in need of protection, Russia 
proposed to draft a force of three hundred soldiers into the 
place. At this date, towards the end of August, the settlement 
at Yong-an-po had grown into sixty houses with a civil 
Russian population of seventy citizens. By this time, how- 
ever, the Japanese Minister at Seoul, Mr. Hayashi, had 
received the text of the proposed contract between the 
Korean Government and the Russian Lumber Company. 
Thereupon, on August 25th, he delivered an ultimatum to 
the Korean Government, On the same day the Russian 
Minister went to the Foreign Office and urged that the 
lease of Yong-an-po be granted. In spite of his urgent 
appeal, the Minister declared it to be impossible. On 
the 27th the Russian Minister went again to the Foreign 
Office at noon, and remained till seven in the evening, but 
the Minister was ill and did not put in an appearance. The 
Russian Minister then stated that he would have nothing 
more to do with the Foreign Minister, but would appeal 
directly to the Emperor. In his despatch Mr. Hayashi 
wrote that if the Korean Government were to sign such 
a lease with the Russian Government, Japan would con- 
sider such an act as a direct violation of the treaty between 
herself and Korea. In this event Japan would consider 
that diplomatic relations between the two countries were 
suspended, and she would regard herself free to act for 
herself in her own interests on the assumption that the whole 
of the Korean territories had been opened to the world. 

The spirited action of the Japanese Minister was not lost 
upon the Korean Government, who at once issued orders to 
the prefect of Yong-an-po to restrain the Russians from 



206 KOREA 

further encroachment. The efforts of the local officials 
were, however, of little avail, and by the middle of September, 
in addition to the colony at Yong-an-po, the settlement 
at Yong-chyon had increased to one hundred and twenty- 
eight Chinese huts, with thirteen hundred Chinese, seventy 
Russians, and twenty tents. Complaints of the high-handed 
action of the Russians in appropriating the property of the 
Koreans to their own needs began to arrive in Seoul, and 
on September 13th came the information that a telegraph line 
had again been laid between Yong-an-po and the lumber 
concession on the Yalu. Coupled with the intelligence of 
this renewed activity was additional, and much more dis- 
quieting, information. The Russians had constructed on 
the elevated ground about the Tu-ryu Harbour a high 
watch-tower, and were preparing emplacements for three 
batteries of field artillery. Meanwhile, however, as a counter 
demonstration to the movement of a company of five hundred 
Russians under two officers, on October 23rd, who had 
crossed the Tumen River in'o Korean territory by night, a 
Japanese warship dropped anchor in the estuary of the 
Yalu, in close proximity to Yong-an-po. 

I make no apology to my readers for giving in this 
detailed fashion the history of this little Russian concession. 
As a chapter of contemporary history I cannot think that 
my words are of any value, but there are doubtless many 
who, like myself, prefer to begin in the beginning, and so 
slowly trace through the developments of any question. In 
respect of Russian action on the Yalu, therefore, I have 
endeavoured to do this. 

Note. — An-tung is known also as Sha-ho ; the Yalu River is known 
also as the Am-nok River. 



CHAPTER XVII 

By the wayside — A journey inland to Tong-ko-kai — Inland 
beauties 

The world of politics in Seoul had become of a sudden 
so profoundly dull, that, ignoring the advice of the weather- 
wise inhabitants of the capital, I packed my kit, and hiring 
ponies, interpreters and servants, moved from the chief 
walled city of the Empire into the wild regions of the 
interior. My journey lay towards Tong-ko-kai, the German 
mines, several days' journey from Seoul. Life, in the 
capital, is not destitute of that monotony which charac- 
terises the Land of the Morning Radiance. But beyond 
the precincts of the Imperial Palaces, out of sight and 
hearing of the countless little coteries of Europeans, the 
contrast between the moving, soft-robed, gentle masses of 
people who congregate within her gates, and the mountain 
reaches and valleys of the open country is refreshing. For 
the moment the pleasure of such an experience ranks high 
among the joys which life holds. 

Save in the first few 11 from the capital, we abandoned 
the beaten tracks, travelling along quiet byways and mountain 
paths, turning aside at fancy to climb a peak or to take a 
swim in the cool, deep waters of some secluded pool at 
night, and morning, and at our noonday halt. In the pleasant 



208 



KOREA 



shades of these cool mountains and sunlit valleys the people 
live in unrebuked simplicity. They offered the loan of 

charcoal stoves 
or retailed eggs, 
chickens and rice 
to my servants. 
At the moment of 
my bath, youths 
and youngsters 
gambolled with 
me in the stream. 
It is said that the 
Koreans are far 
from clean, a 
statement they 
belied upon many 
occasions by the 
freedom and en- 
joyment with 
which they in- 
dulged in these 
dips. Foreigners 
had not pene- 
trated along the route which my friend and I were following 
to the German mines, and even the ubiquitous evangelist 
had not penetrated to these peasant homes. The mountains 
and rivers had no names ; the settlements were small ; inns 
did not exist. Everywhere was contentment, peace, and 
infinite repose. Nature stood revealed to us in primaeval 
grandeur, and it was impossible not to enjoy the calm of 
the valleys, the rugged beauty of the mountain crests, the 
picturesque wildness of the scenery. 




BEYOND THE CAPITAL 




2 D 



210 KOREA 

As the days passed the general character of the country 
remained unaltered. The manifold and complex tints in 
the bush, the differing aspects of each succeeding height, 
the alternating complexion of the valleys, dissipated the 
monotony, engendered by the never changing features of 
the picture — the trees and mountains, hillside hamlets and 
mountain torrents, precipitous passes and windy plateaux. 
Moving thus slowly through the mountain passes, a wonder- 
ful panorama silently disclosed itself. Hills were piled one 
upon another, gradually merging into chains of mountains, 
the crests of which, two and three thousand feet in height, 
stood out clearly defined against an azure sky, their rock- 
bound faces covered with birch, beech, oak and pine. The 
valleys below these mountain chains were long and narrow, 
cool and cultivated. A hillside torrent dashed through 
them, tumbling noisily over massive boulders, gradually 
fretting a new course for itself in the lava strata. Countless 
insects buzzed in the still air ; frogs croaked in the marsh 
meadows ; the impudent magpie and the plebeian crow 
choked and chattered indignantly among the branches of 
the trees. Cock-pheasants started from the thick cover of 
the low-lying hills, the dogs pointed the nests of the sitting 
hens, and does called to their calves among the young bushes. 
A calm and happy nature revealed itself spontaneously in 
these fragrant places, undisturbed, luxurious, and unre- 
strained. The road was rough. Here and there, in keeping 
with the wild and rugged beauty of the scene, it became 
the narrow track of the Australasian " backs," congested 
with bushes, broken by holes and stones, almost impassable 
until the coolies made a way. 

Across the clattering crystal of the gushing torrent a 
rustic bridge was Hung, the merest makeshift, three feet in 



INLAND BEAUTIES 211 

width, with a flooring of earth and bush, which bent and 
swayed upon slender poles, beneath the slightest burden. 
Some streams were unbridged, and the diminutive ponies 
splashed through them, gladly cooling their sweating flanks 
as their drivers waded or carried one another to the distant 
bank. Wild ferns, butterflies, and flowers revelled in these 
unkempt gardens. The red dog-lily and purple iris glowed 
against the foliage of the shrubs and bushes. Gigantic 
butterflies eclipsed the glories of the rainbow ; their gorgeous 
tints blending into harmony with the more subdued plumage 
of the cranes and storks that floated lazily across the inun- 
dated spaces of the paddy-fields. Other birds, with dove- 
grey, pink, or yellow breasts and black pinions, fished in 
the streams with raucous cries. The most amazing tints, 
recalling some of Turner's later pictures, gladdened the eye 
in these delightful valleys. In the depths of the valleys the 
mountain torrents flowed more idly, and the stream mean- 
dered in a thousand directions. Upon either bank, its 
volume was diverted to the needs of some adjacent rice- 
field. In these paddy-patches green and tender shoots 
were just sprouting above a few inches of clear water. 
Here and there, fields of wheat bordered these water- 
soaked stretches ; oats, corn, barley, tobacco, cotton, beans 
and millet were scattered about the sides and plains of the 
mountain valleys in a fashion which proclaimed the fertility 
of the soil. 

Everything throve, however, and the industry of the 
workers in the fields was manifested at every turn of the 
road. Their ingenuity in making the most of available land 
recalled the valleys which run down to the fiords of Norway, 
where, as in Korea, patches. of cultivated ground are visible 
at the snow level. Here, in these beautiful valleys, perhaps 



212 KOREA 

a thousand or fifteen hundred feet up the mountain side, 
acres of golden crops will be growing in the warm and 
happy seclusion of some sheltered hollow. 

At the turn of the winding track, bordered by the paddy- 
fields or acres of golden barley, oats and tobacco, lies a 
village. It is but a cluster of some dozen straw-thatched 
hovels, dirty and unprepossessing, but infinitely quaint and 
picturesque. The walls of the houses are crumbling and 
stayed up with beams and massive timbers ; the latticed 
windows are papered, the doorways low. A hole in the 
wall serves the purposes of a chimney ; a dog is sleeping 
in the porch ; a pig squeaks, secured with a cord through 
the ears to a peg in the wall. Cocks and hens are anywhere 
and everywhere, the family latrine — an open trough, foul 
and nauseous, used without disgust by all members of the 
family save the older women-folk, stands upon the verandah. 
Somewhere, near the outer limits of the small settlement, 
an erection of poles and straw matting distinguishes the 
village cesspool, the contents of which are spread over the 
fields in the proper season. 

A glimpse into a house, as one rides through the village 
shows a man combing his long hair, a woman beating her 
husband's clothes or ironing with a bowl heated with char- 
coal ; many naked children, the progeny of child-wives, 
scarce out of their teens. For the moment the village 
seems devoid of life. As the clatter of the cavalcade re- 
sounds, a child, feeding itself from a basin of rice, emerges 
from a window ; a man tumbles to his feet yawning noisily. 
Women, with infants hanging at their breasts or bearing 
children strapped to their backs in dirty clothes, the usual 
naked band of well-developed breast and unwashed back 
showing, crowd into the streets. All eye the newcomers 



INLAND BEAUTIES 



213 



with indifferent curiosity, until we wish them a plenteous 
rain — " May the rain come soon, good people." Then they 
bend their heads respectfully at the salutation, and instantly 




9m £■■ 



COUNTRY CAR'. 



become bright and smiling. Winsome kiddies, muddy and 
naked, offer us flowers, and bowls of water from the streams 
upon which their elders have settled. 

As the road Threaded through the mountains, long 
valleys, widely and richly cultivated, the yellow lustre of 
the golden crops blazing in the sunlight, lay below. Granite 
peaks towered upwards, their rugged faces scored by time 
and tempest, their ragged outlines screened with firs and 
birch. The still air was laden with the aromatic scent 
of the pine-woods ; the sky was clear and blue. In the 
distance, snow-white clouds hung in diaphanous festoons 
about a curve in the mountains. The rough contour broke 



2i4 KOREA 

where the heights were bleakest and most barren. A twist 
in the broad valley which our road traversed limited the 
prospect, but the direction lay beneath the shadows of those 
distant peaks, and the perspective already compensated tor 
the precipitous climb. 

Indeed, from a few // beyond Chyok-syong, a magistracy 
of the fourth class, where the houses are roofed with thick 
slabs of slate supported by heavy beams, where the streets 
are clean, and where road and river alike make a detour, the 
views by the wayside became increasingly impressive. For 
mile upon mile we saw no wayfarers. The villages were 
widely distant ; fertile valleys gave place to green-black 
gorges, without cultivation, peaceful, grandly beautiful, and 
uninhabitable. The perfect stillness and the wonderful mag- 
nificence of the panorama held one spell-bound. There was 
no change in the character of the scenery until, riding slowly 
forward, the road dropped from the comfortable shade of 
a mountain temple into the blazing sunshine of the plain. 
Pushing forward, the rice and cornfields receded, giving 
place to the ranges, whose lofty peaks, dressed with their 
mantling clouds, had been already dimly discerned. Through- 
out the journey of the next two days the road rose and fell, 
winding in a steady gradient across the mountain sides. 

The march to Tong-ko-kai was laborious, and one day, 
when within easy distance of the concession in a tiny 
hamlet, the colour of the slate and granite boulders, nestling 
among waving bushes, almost unconscious of the outer 
world and hardly alive to its own existence, an ideal spot in 
which to pitch the evening camp was found. It was early 
in the afternoon, but the road ahead looked rough and 
stony. Our horses were fatigued, the ford had been trouble- 
some and we were wet, cold and hungry. Within the bush 



INLAND BEAUTIES 215 

the shadows were deepening. No one knew the site of the 
next village nor the precise direction in which we were 
moving, so we halted. That night we snuggled down with 
our faces to the cliffs. Our horses were tethered in a patch 
of corn, and the kit, the servants, interpreters and grooms 
lay in one confused and hungry tangle round us. Within- 
sound of the deep roar of the river we slept peacefully. 
Indeed, I am not certain that this one hour when, invigorated 
by a swim in some mountain pool, refreshed by a slight 
repast, we rocked in our camp beds, smoking and chatting, 
looking into the cool black depths of the canopy above 
us, was not the best that the day held. There was some- 
thing intensely restful in those long, silent watches. The 
mighty stillness of the surrounding heights of itself gave a 
repose, to which the night winds, the murmurs of the running 
water and our own physical fatigue, insensibly added. It 
was pleasant to hear the ponies eating ; to watch the stars 
come out, the moon rise ; to listen to the bull-frog in the 
water weeds and the echoes of the song of a peasant, rising 
and falling among the peaks of the high mountains, until, at 
length, all sounds had passed away and the great world 
around us, above us, and below, lay at peace. 




A PITCHED BATTLE 



CHAPTER XVIII 

The German mines — Mineralogy and methods of mining- — A 
bear hunt — With gun and rifle 

Nature has been active in these regions. There is much 
limestone and slate formation, some basaltic upheavals, lava 
boulders, and chain upon chain of granite peaks. To the 
west of Tong-ko-kai there is the crater of an extinct volcano, 
but the lava strata in the vicinity of the concession are 
almost completely eroded. The basin of the concession 
is well watered, cultivated, and populous in places. It is 
surrounded by ranges three, four and five thousand feet in 
height. Korea is very mountainous in the north and hilly 
in the south. The watershed between the Sea of Japan and 
the Yellow Sea extends north and south, nearly parallel 
to the east coast. In a sense this line of mountain ranges is 
the backbone of the peninsula ; the eastern side of the 
main watershed is narrow and abrupt, while the western is 
more extended and contains low plains, favourable to agri- 
culture. The general altitude of the peaks varies between 
five and six thousand feet. A few isolated points in the 
extreme north are believed to be higher. 

The principal mining districts are situated along the 
courses of the main and the minor watersheds. The famous 
mining districts of Kang-kyoi, Kap-san,andTeh-chang-chin,at 



THE GERMAN MINES 217 

present in the occupation of native workmen, occur upon 
the plateau formed by the junction of the range, which 
constitutes the northern frontier of the province of Pyong-an, 
with the main watershed of the country. The British mines 
at Eun-san are situated in country pierced by the north- 
western antilles of the main watershed. The position of 
the German mines bears a similar relation to the great 
natural division of the country, upon its eastern side. Many 
useful minerals are distributed over Korea — gold, silver, 
lead, copper, iron, coal — but that which yields the richest 
harvest is gold. The value of the gold exported from 
Korea during 1901 increased from £363,305 in 1900 to 
£509,738. A further increase marks 1902, the value of the 
gold exported being £516,961. These figures give only the 
value declared at the Customs. Large amounts are annually 
smuggled out of the country. 

The presence of gold has been known from the earliest 
times. Knochenhauer, a German geologist, has declared it to 
exist in every river in the kingdom. Hitherto, alluvial gold 
has been the principal yield to native workers. The miners 
followed the object of their search up the mountain side 
until they struck veins and lodes, whence much of the 
alluvial gold was derived. The chief auriferous districts are 
in the northern half of the country ; in which sphere lie the 
American mine at Un-san, the British mine at Eun-san, 
and the German mine at Tong-ko-kai. 

The original source of Korean gold may be found in the 
quartz veins, which, in the case of the American mines, is 
alleged to give exceptionally rich returns. The alluvial 
deposits, brought down from the veins in the mountain- 
ridges, have been freely worked by Koreans ; and when 
more scientifically treated the yield is satisfactory. The 

2 E 



2 i 8 KOREA 

schotter sediments, in the case of the Tong-ko-kai mines, 
attained a maximum of seventy-five feet in depth, a 
thickness of sedimentary matter some fifty feet in ex- 
cess of the usual formation. The concession was granted 
in 1898. Under it powers were given to a German com- 
pany to select a place twenty miles long and thirteen 
miles wide, within two years from the date of signing 
the contract, for the purpose of working all minerals 
during a space of twenty-five years, with an annual pay- 
ment to the Korean Government of twenty-five per cent, 
on the net profits. The revenues received from these con- 
tracts belong to the Imperial Household, passing directly 
into the private purse of the Sovereign. In the case of the 
English syndicate, the percentage was compounded for 
a sum of -£20,000 and an annual payment of a further 
.£2000. 

The site, which the Germans selected for their concession, 
was, at the moment when they assumed control over the 
areas, the centre of extensive alluvial workings. The native 
miners strongly objected to the innovation, and prepared to 
resist the rights of the German company by force. In the 
end, however, their hostility was overcome by granting 
them twelve months' additional occupation of their works, 
and, when Herr Bauer assumed charge as administrative 
engineer, opposition was already at an end. The district 
is covered with the remains of old workings in the schotter 
of the river-bed ; they are also to be found in a few places 
in the quartz upon the mountain side. In the absence of 
the requisite machinery, work upon the concession was 
necessarily disorganised. Eventually the concession was 
abandoned, close investigation failing to disclose its posses- 
sion of any very remunerative qualities. At the time of its 



METHODS OF MINING 219 

withdrawal, the company employed nine Europeans, thirteen 
Japanese and Chinese, and some three hundred Koreans. 

Korean mining is very elementary. The usual methods 
are " placer " and " crushing " and a process of treatment 
by fire. A vertical shaft is sunk, with narrow steps cut into 
its sides, to the level of the reef ; the bottom of the shaft is 
then packed with wood, which is ignited and kept burning 
for several days. The heated rock becomes very friable 
and yields readily to the crude implements of the miners. 
There is great competition to secure the bottom pitch in 
these shafts ; the more intrepid rarely delay their descent 
until the working has cooled. The quartz is sometimes 
rubbed to powder and the gold washed out, or it is crushed 
between huge boulders, washed, re-crushed and panned 
again. The gold is then picked out. Until lately there 
were no places where the gold was tested by other than 
the most antiquated methods. 

Such sanguine hopes have been raised as to the results 
of the mining in Korea, that it would be as well if the public 
accepted all statements in regard to these investments with 
great caution. The results of the development of the 
various mining concessions, now in progress, will be awaited 
with much interest, and will, it is to be hoped, form a 
reliable test of the mining possibilities of the country. The 
returns from the American mines encourage the belief that 
these possibilities have not been over-estimated ; but it has 
yet to be proved that mining operations can be profitably 
carried on with Western methods and appliances. The 
deposits in which gold is found in Korea are irregular, and 
by no means continuous. To a Korean miner this is of 
small importance. His outfit costs at the most a few 
shillings, and his belongings are easily transported to any 



220 KOREA 

distance as circumstances demand. A different order of 
things is essential to a successful installation of Western 
machinery, and the public require some proof that there is, 
within workable distance, a sufficient quantity of ore to 
yield a fair profit on their investments. This has yet to be 
proved in the case of the British mine ; in respect of the 
German concession, the business resulted in a fiasco. That 
these mining enterprises should be successful is desirable in 
the interests of both natives and foreigners. They afford 
steady employment at a fair wage to thousands of Koreans, 
at least, part of whose earnings is expended in the purchase 
of foreign goods. It is perhaps, however, not altogether 
unfortunate that the Korean Government is averse, at 
present, to grant further concessions. 

During our halt at Tong-ko-kai, one day was spent in 
climbing the mighty peaks to lofty spots where, at a height of 
some thousands of feet, native prospectors were driving into 
the granite facing of the mountain in an effort to strike the 
main reef. Another day was passed in a hunt across the crests 
of the ranges after bear and deer. At daybreak, a little 
after 4 a.m. upon the morning of this excursion, Herr Bauer 
escorted us to a prospector's hut in the damp recesses of a 
distant valley, where our beaters, gun-carriers, and hunter- 
guides had been ordered to rendezvous for a bear hunt. 
Alas ! the Korean cannot bestir himself ! His late rising 
on this occasion delayed our departure from the hut two 
hours. The sun had risen when the expedition moved off, 
a motley retinue of professional hunters and beaters accom- 
panying us to the gorge, wherein lay the bear. Hunters 
and beaters attached themselves to each of us, and we pro- 
ceeded across the mountain, pursuing a narrow and broken 
rack, which cleft the bare summit of the highest ridges. 



A BEAR HUNT 221 

We climbed and scrambled up and down and in and out of 
many sheltered and well-timbered gorges, until the hunters 
warned us that we were approaching our stations. 

The beaters disappeared, making a detour of some //, to 
beat up the many crooked twists and turns which the drive 
took. Hours passed while we, hot, hungry, and athirst, lay 
hidden in the rank bush awaiting a sight of the quarry. 
For the first hour no sound broke the serenity of the valley; 
presently, however, the cries of the beaters came to us, 
wafted from below or floating lazily from the surrounding 
heights. At first only a distant moaning, like the sobbing of 
a storm among the trees of a forest, broke upon our ears. 
The strange sounds created much restlessness among the 
wild wood-pigeons, the cooing doves, and the cheery, 
chattering magpies. Red-breasted storks rose with disdain- 
ful elegance from the shallows of the trickling stream and 
soared towards other pools. The mists of night rolled away 
from the valley ; the dew disappeared from the matted 
undergrowth ; the sun mounted ; the day grew warmer. 
The blood coursed through our veins as we peered hither 
and thither, scanning the opposite face of the valley with 
the keenest vigilance. The beaters were ascending. The 
harsh cries of their raucous voices broke upon the air. 
The air vibrated with eerie noises ; a spasmodic howling 
arose from the depths of the valley, where an isolated 
beater lashed himself into a fever of vociferous discord. 
Hoarse shouts boomed above us, and echoed against the 
crags of the gorge. On either side of us, the valley re- 
sounded to the labours of the beaters, who, gaining the 
extreme crests, had now descended, driving everything 
before them. They approached rapidly, joined by the 
native hunters, who had now taken up positions upon the 



ill KOREA 

rocks which overlooked the place where we were hiding. 
Our own moment had arrived. Each man fingered his 
rifle, peering forward as the concluding effort of the beaters 
burst forth in a hurricane of clamour. We looked and 
waited, until the conclusion was forced upon us that the 
bear had already long since broken through the lines of 
his pursuers. 

Hunting in general is considered a servile occupation by 
the Koreans, and the pursuit of the deer, the bear, and the 
tiger is not a favourite sport among the young bloods of the 
kingdom. Nobles, except those who belong to a few 
impoverished families in the extreme northern provinces, 
and who are reduced to the pastime to supplement their 
resources, never indulge in it. It is, nevertheless, free to 
all. There are no game laws, no proscription of arms, and 
few preserves. There is no interdicted season in any part of 
the country. The one creature which it is forbidden to 
destroy is the falcon, whose life is protected by most 
stringent enactments. The hunting-grounds are almost 
solely confined to the mountainous districts, and the hunters 
are a class apart throughout the country. They shift their 
grounds rapidly and constantly in search of game, living at 
the expense of any village where they may temporarily 
lodge in return for the protection from wild animals 
which their prowess assures to the local population. Their 
chief weapon is the flint-lock, imported from Japan. The 
barrel is inlaid with silver, and bound with thin silver bands 
or strips of tin. This weapon is loaded with iron bullets, 
similar in size to those contained in a seven-pound shrapnel 
shell. The charge is ignited from a coil of plaited straw- 
cord, which is kept alight during the progress of the hunt. 
The stock is short and light. When the gun is fired, the 



WITH GUN AND RIFLE 223 

butt of this curious and antique weapon rests against the 
cheek-bone. The faces of many of the hunters, who accom- 
panied us, were scarred below the right eye. 

Their dress is characteristic, and they are further distin- 
guished by their boldness, fearlessness, and independent 
bearing. They adopt, as a uniform, a blue canvas shirt, to 
which is added a blue or green cotton turban, which is 
coiled twice through the hair, the torn, frayed end hanging 
over the forehead. Coloured beads are entwined in this 
head-dress, and a necklace of similar beads encircles the 
throat. Chains of seed-beans hang across the breast, to 
which are fastened the many ingenious contrivances of their 
calling. The hunters imitate the sounds of various birds 
and animals very cleverly, particularly those of a pheasant 
calling to his hen and a doe crying to her calves. The 
pheasant-call is made from a disc of iron about the size of 
a sixpenny piece. It resembles the stone of an apricot and 
is pierced. The decoy used for deer is made from a split 
bamboo stalk. 

Bird-hunters never shoot their quarry upon the wing. 
They disguise themselves in skins or feathers, bringing 
down their game from some well-concealed coign of 
vantage. Deer are hunted during June and July. The 
hunters form into small parties, and beat up the mountains 
for several days until their prey is within gunshot. The 
horns are sold to the native physicians, or exported to 
China and Japan. When in pursuit of the bear, hunters 
are more than usually careful to delay firing until the effect 
of their shot is certain. Good prices are fetched by the 
various parts of a bear. In addition to the proceeds from 
the pelt, the flesh, fat, sinews, and gall of a bear, supposed 
to possess certain medicinal properties, sell for their weight 



224 



KOREA 



in silver. The one royal quadruped associated with Korea, 
as the white elephant is with Siam, the dromedary with 
Egypt, the bison with the United States, is the tiger. 
Unlike the Indian species, that delights in the tropical 




A SUMMER PLEASAUNCE 



jungles, this animal is found in Korea in the snow and 
forests of the north, and as far as the fiftieth parallel. In 
the mind of the Korean, the tiger is the symbol of fierceness, 
an emblem of martial pomp and glory. The tiger hunters 
affect to despise their noble game, and upon occasions they 
even attack them single-handed with a lance or short sword, 
assisted by trained dogs. Tigers are sometimes caught in 
pits, covered with earth and bushes, and filled with stakes. 
In this condition it is easy to kill them. The hunters eat 
the meat, selling the skin and bones. 

Tiger hunters are exceptionally courageous. Their 
services are requisitioned by their Government upon 



WITH GUN AND RIFLE 225 

occasion in the defence of the Empire. Armed with match- 
lock, spear and sword, they defeated the French, under 
Admiral Roze, in 1866, and heroically resisted the advance 
of the Americans in 1871. In 1901 they were assembled to 
protect the northern frontier from the incursions of Man- 
churian bandits. 



2 v 



CHAPTER XIX 

The monks and monasteries of the Diamond Mountains — 
The Temple of Eternal Rest — The Temple of the Tree of 
Buddha — Buddhism 

Game abounds in the region between the German mines 
and the Diamond Mountains, and as we moved slowly 
forward to the famous Monastery of Chang-an, many 
short halts were made in search of birds and deer. Unfor- 
tunately, the deer evaded us and it became impossible to 
put up the pheasants out of the dense growth in the bushes 
in which they found cover. We had, however, some sport 
among the wood-pigeon. Korean hunters accompanied us 
some little distance upon our journey, leaving our caravan 
when our ways diverged. Beyond the Hai-yong River 
their track lay to the west into the heart of the mountains ; 
our own continued north-east. 

The hardships, experienced in travelling through Korea, 
were exemplified by the difficulties of our progress. They 
were intensified, however, by our ignorance of the precise 
trail, which it was necessary to follow across the heights 
from Tong-ko-kai to the mountain retreat of the pious 
monks. The inhabitants of the village of To-chi-dol warned 
our grooms of the difficulty of taking horses across the 
Tan-bal-yang Pass, the one barrier, which remained unsur- 



THE DIAMOND MOUNTAINS 



227 



mounted, between the outside world and the quiet repose of 
the first monastery in the Keum-kang-san. Until we en- 
forced our orders with sticks the mampus were inclined to 
give up the enterprise. Their opposition was momentary ; 
the transition from a somewhat angry mood into their usual 
condition of un- 
ruffled composure 
and high spirits 
was instantane- 
ous. With un- 
tiring energy and 
patience they en- 
couraged their 
diminutive ponies 
to climb the boul- 
ders ; to twist and 
wriggle between 
the clumps of 
tangled bushes 
and masses of 
rock which beset 
the path, and to 
scramble across the steeps. We followed a dried-up water- 
course at the level of the valley, making the ascent gradually. 
The climb was severe, and became so steep that the pack- 
saddles slipped off the backs of the ponies. It occupied our 
eight animals some four hours, testing the endurance of 
pony and groom, alike the product of the hills, stout of 
limb and strong of wind. 

The descent from the spirit shrine, in a gap on the crest 
of the range, was less toilsome. The grooms plaited ropes 
of green creepers, plucked from the bush, and strung them 




. • 



THE ABBOT OF CHANG-AN-SA 



228 KOREA 

round the packs. Walking behind the ponies, they held to 
these cords, thus supporting the animals and preventing the 
loads and clumsy saddles from reversing the process of the 
previous scramble. Nevertheless, our path was littered 
with fragments of our baggage. The contrivance was 
successful, however, and in the main the little steeds picked 
their way with an easy accuracy through the cool green 
woods. The mountain side was fragrant with innumerable 
plants, the bush a tangle of magnificent ferns, trees, and 
shrubs. Oaks, hawthorn, chestnut, birch and pines grew 
in crowded splendour ; the wild rose, the freckled lily, and 
a purple orchid embroidered the moss. Beyond the hollows 
of the hilly woodlands, the crumpled backs of the jagged 
mountains reared themselves skyward, their proud crests 
lost in the clouds, soaring silently to a height of five 
thousand feet. Below in the valley, a wall of granite 
mountains set up an impenetrable barrier before a noisy 
river, which until the advent of the rainy season becomes 
the merest trickle of silver in a lone expanse of river-bed. 

Our way lay across the river-bed and thence into the 
centre of the mountains, a journey of one more day, to The 
Temple of Eternal Rest. After crossing the Tan-bal-yang 
Pass we delayed, resting at Kal-kan-i. Starting at daybreak, 
upon the next morning we moved through the Kak-pi 
Pass as the sun touched the tops of the mountains, which 
shut in the narrow valley, across which lay the last stage of 
the journey. We were nearing the last home of many 
distressed pilgrims. In a cleft among the mountains the 
deep curved roofs of many temples might be seen. The 
air was tremulous with the pleasant jangling of bells, and 
from a wayside shrine the sweet fumes of incense mingled 
with the scent of the pines. The calm and seclusion of this 



THE TEMPLE OF ETERNAL REST 229 

spiritual retreat was in itself soothing ; as one passed beneath 
the red gate, that indicates royal patronage, the placid 
gentleness of the scene was an allurement to the consolation 
and protection offered by this Buddhistic asylum. 

There are thirty-four monasteries, and monastic shrines 
in the Keum-kang-san, and they are tended by three 
hundred monks and sixty nuns. Chang-an is the oldest, 
and has been in existence for some generations. In 515 A.D., 
during the reign of Po-pheung, a king of Silla, it was restored 
by two monks, Yul-sa and Chin-kyo. Other monasteries, 
akin to this in their romantic setting and picturesque seclu- 
sion, are Pyo-un, which, together with Chang-an is situated 
upon the western slopes, Yu-chom and Sin-ga upon the eastern 
slopes. These, with thirty others of less importance, excite 
the most profound interest and enthusiasm among the 
Koreans, many of whom repeatedly brave the difficulties 
and fatigues of travel in the Diamond Mountains to visit 
them. 

The four chief monasteries are served by one hundred 
and seventy monks and thirty nuns. The main temple of 
Chang-an is a large building, forty-eight feet in height, of 
the type to which travellers in the East soon become accus- 
tomed. The wooden structure is rectangular with two roofs, 
deep, curved and richly carved eaves, the heavy tiled roofs 
being supported upon teak pillars three feet in circumference. 
The diamond-cut panels of the doors, which serve as windows, 
are ornamented with gold, and the lofty ceiling is carved and 
wrought in rich designs, lavishly gilded and highly coloured 
in blue, red, green and gold. Granite steps give access to 
the temples ; the main beams and supports of the whole 
edifice resting upon huge circular slabs of this stone. 

On the inner walls of this building there are scenes 



230 KOREA 

from the life of Gautama, the apostle of the Buddhistic 
creed. A gilded image figures as the centre of a golden 
group of seven past and future godheads, incarnations 
of the One and sublime Sakya-muni, whose future re- 
appearance is anticipated by the faithful. Brass incense- 
burners, candlesticks, and a manuscript book of masses in 
Chinese and Korean characters, resting upon a faded cover 
of soiled and dusty brocade, furnish the front of the altar. 
Before this high altar, wonderfully impressive and inspiring 
in the dim religious light of the vast interior, a priest spends 
certain hours of the day and night in profound obeisance, 
intoning, chanting and gabbling monotonously and with 
constant genuflections, the words Na-mu Ami Tabid. This 
expression is a phonetic rendering of certain Thibetan words, 
the meaning of which the Abbot himself was unable to ex- 
plain ; when transcribed in Chinese characters it appears 
equally unintelligible. 

Other temples in this particular monastery are dedicated 
to The Abode of Virtue, The Four Sages, and The Ten 
Judges. Within these edifices Sakya-muni and his disciples 
sit in different attitudes of ineffable abstraction, contem- 
plating gruesome pictures of demons, animals, and the 
torments awarded in after-life to the wicked. Many of 
the buildings of Chang-an have been restored within 
recent years. The work has been completed long since, and 
the spacious courtyards are now well kept. The temples are 
clean and spotless, the whole monastery bearing witness to 
the care with which it is maintained. 

Besides the more important temples, there are many 
smaller shrines, set within some forest nook ; a stage for 
the more important religious observances, bell and tablet 
houses, stables for the ponies of the numerous visitors, a 



TEMPLE OF THE TREE OF BUDDHA 231 

nunnery and a refectory for the Abbot and monks. There 
are, in addition, cells for the priests and quarters for the 
servants. Accommodation is found for the widows, 
orphans, and the destitute ; for the lame, the halt, and the 
blind ; for the aged and forlorn, to whom the monks grant 
shelter and protection. Besides the Abbot, there were in 
the monastery some twenty other men, monks, priests and 
neophytes, and ten nuns of various ages, ranging from girl 
hood to wrinkled wisdom. 

The establishment derives its revenues from the rent and 
proceeds of the Church lands, donations from pilgrims and 
guests, occasional benefactions from the wealthy, and the 
collections made by the mendicant monks. These latter chant 
the litanies of Buddha from house to house, and travel 
throughout the Empire, finding food and lodging by the 
wayside, to collect the scanty contributions which their 
solicitations evoke. The four great monasteries are pre- 
sided over by a member of the community, who is 
elected annually to the office. Unless his conduct gives 
rise to dissatisfaction, he is maintained in authority, usually 
until his death, or transference to some other centre of 
Buddhistic activity. The practices and observances, in 
these monasteries of the Diamond Mountains, conform to 
the principles of the religion of Buddha, as nearly as do the 
customs and manners of our own Church to the varied 
tenets of Christianity throughout the world. 

I confess myself sorely puzzled to discover any sub- 
stratum of truth in the charges of gross profligacy and 
irreverence which the agent of an American Missionary 
Society brings against the monasteries of the Keum-kang- 
san. Personally, after spending many weeks in the calm 
seclusion of this monastic region, I prefer to recall the 



232 KOREA 

kindliness of the monks — their real Christian charity — to the 
poor and afflicted, to the hungry and sore distressed, as to 
all who come to them in times of misery and evil. If many 
of them learn the litanies of their liturgy by heart, if they 
lack scholarship, if they do not know the meaning of much 
upon which they spend so many weary hours of their lives, 
are not these slight things when weighed against their pro- 
foundhumanity,their gentleness toeverythingwhich breathes, 
their benevolence to the old and destitute, their exceeding 
humility, their wonderful toleration, the quietness and 
extreme simplicity of their lives, and the humanitarian 
nature of their interests ? 

The Monastery of Yu-chom is all peace and quietude. 
It lies, shut off from all contact with the outer world, within 
a deep, tree-clad valley of the eastern ranges. It is self- 
contained, and its whole existence is wrapped up in the 
mysteries of that faith to whose services it is dedicated. 
There is no booming torrent, such as that which vibrates 
and thunders through the Chang-an-sa gorge ; a subdued 
babble alone rises from the water, which wells from some 
rocks deep in the recesses of the prevailing bush. Its 
appearance is strangely solemn, and it exerts over the daily 
lives of the coterie of monks, assembled within its walls, an 
influence that conduces to their extreme asceticism. The 
atmosphere of repose and seclusion, in which a soul dis- 
tressed finds so much comfort, broods over the whole 
community. 

The most imposing of the thirty-four Buddhist re- 
treats within the Diamond Mountains is Yu-chom-sa. 
It may be approached from the western side of the 
Keum-kang-san by climbing the rocky path of the 
Chang-an-sa gorge, and crossing the watershed through 



TEMPLE OF THE TREE OF BUDDHA 233 

the An-man-chai Pass, 4215 feet in height. The descent 
is made by a rough and picturesque track through deep 




THE ABBOT OF VU-CHOM-SA 



woods to the cluster of temples upon the eastern face of 
the range. Another way, which, after a short detour from 
Chang-an-sa, is an easier route, lies over the Pu-ti-chong 

2 G 



234 KOREA 

Pass, 3700 feet in height ; after winding through some 
miles of forest, it drops directly upon a track, which leads 
to the gates of the monastery. Each road starts from 
Chang-an-sa, and the crossing of the mountains must be 
undertaken by all who wish to visit the monasteries upon 
the eastern slopes. The journey in either direction can 
be accomplished within eight hours ; the difficulties of the 
bed of the Chang-an-sa torrent render this route impassable 
to horses, &c. Lightly-loaded ponies can be taken across 
the Pu-ti-chong. The hire of coolies is recommended 
and one Korean dollar for each man is the tariff. 

The temples of Yu-chom-sa are very similar to those at 
Chang-an-sa. They are, however, more numerous and 
more richly endowed. Before the steps of the main temple 
there is a small granite pagoda, whose graceful proportions 
give an element of dignity to the spacious courtyard upon 
which the principal temples of the monastery abut. The 
altar of this temple is adorned by a singular piece of wood- 
carving. Upon the roots of an upturned tree sit or stand 
fifty-three diminutive figures of Buddha. The monks tell 
an old-world legend of this strange structure. Many 
centuries ago, fifty- three priests, who had journeyed from 
India to Korea to introduce the precepts of Buddha into 
this ancient land, sat down by a well beneath a spreading tree. 
Three dragons presently emerged from the depths of the 
well and attacked the fifty-three, calling to their aid the 
wind-dragon, who thereupon uprooted the tree. As the 
fight proceeded, the priests managed to place an image of 
Buddha upon each root of the tree, converting the whole 
into an altar, under whose influence the dragons were forced 
back into their cavernous depths, when huge rocks were 
piled into the well to shut them up. The monks then 



BUDDHISM 235 

founded the monastery, building the main temple above 
the remains of the vanquished dragons. Upon each side of 
the fantastic altar-piece there is a carved design of lotusleaves 
several feet in width and height ; at the feet of an immense 
image of the divine Buddha, golden and bejewelled, which 
graces the centre of the shrine, are several magnificent 
bronze bowls of vast size, weight, and antiquity. Blue and 
red silk-gauze draperies, serving the purpose of a screen, 
hang from the massive beams in the roof. 

The figures seen in Korean temples are reproduced in 
Buddhist temples throughout Asia, the supreme and central 
form being that of Sakya-muni or Buddha. In the sculpture 
and artistic development of this, the central figure of their 
pantheon, there is little, if any, deviation from the conven- 
tional traditions of India, Siam, Thibet, and Mongolia. 
The sage is crouching on his knees with the souls of his 
feet turned upward to the face ; the palms and fingers of 
his hands pressed together ; the eyes are slightly oblique, 
and the lobes of the ears somewhat bulbous. The throne 
consists of the open calyx of a lotus flower, the symbol 
of eternity. The splendour of the figures in the Temple of 
the Tree of Buddha is noticeable ; and the lustre of the 
heavy gilding gleams from about the altar into the dimness 
and uncertain light of the vast chamber like the rays of some 
spiritual fire. Devotional exercises never cease in this 
House of the Ever-Supreme Lord, the services and constant 
offering of prayer being taken in turn by the officiating 
priests. At these moments, when the lonely figure of the 
priest is seen pleading with the Ever-Supreme Lord, in 
his most sacred Temple and before his most sacred shrine, 
for the grace of forgiveness, the scene is one ot the most 
extraordinary solemnity. As the chant rises and falls in 



236 KOREA 

the great spaces of the hall and the swaying figure rocks 
in the despair of his passionate self-abandonment the 
sympathies and emotions are strangely stirred. The 
stages of the services are marked by blows upon a 
bell which the priest holds before him, the while he casts 
himself upon his face and kneels before the resplendent 
Buddha. 

The chief celebrations of the day and night in Yu- 
chom-sa are accompanied by the booming of the great 
bronze bell — an elaborate casting of the fourteenth century 
— and by the beating of a large circular drum many feet in 
circumference. Both instruments stand in their own towers 
in the courtyard. During the minor services, the genu- 
flections of the priests are accompanied by the jarring notes 
of the small brass bells, which they strike repeatedly with 
deer-horns. A magnificent figure of Buddha sits in the 
Temple of the Lotus Blossom, in an attitude of impassive 
benignity behind a screen of glass, looking solemnly upon 
the devotions and pious exercises of his faithful attendants. 
This altar is recessed, the entire shrine being protected by 
plates of glass, and the offerings of rice, which are pre- 
sented to the altar for benediction, stand without the 
screen. Among other temples and shrines at Yu-chom-sa 
there are the House of Everlasting Life, the Temple 
of the Water Month, the Temple of People who come 
from the West. There are fifty monks in Yu-chom-sa, 
twelve nuns, and eight boys who have not yet been 
admitted to the order. Many of the boys in these mon- 
asteries are quite young. Some have been handed over by 
their parents in extreme infancy, while others have been 
received out of the wide charity of the Buddhists, and 
dedicated to the service of the monasteries. These boys 



BUDDHISM 



237 



appear intelligent. They are taught little beyond the 
different chants and litanies, with the words of which 
they soon become familiar. The boys are clean and 
well fed ; but the monks, if equally clean, are more 




YU-CHOM-SA 



sparing in their diet. Their frugal repast consists of rice 
and varieties of minced vegetables, cakes of pine nuts glued 
together with honey, and other cakes of popped rice and 
honey. The extreme richness of the dishes soon palls upon 
the palate. While managing to exist, signs of emaciation 
are noticeable in their bodies and faces. Among the nuns 
who are attracted to these different monasteries, there are 
many who have entered the cloister from religious motives, 
and a few who, alone in the world, find it a convenient 
spot in which to pass their lives. Neither class, however, 
encroaches upon the religious and devotional functions of 



238 KOREA 

the monks, but lives entirely apart, existing altogether in a 
world of their own making. 

The forms of religion which prevail in Korea to-day are 
Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shamanism. Statements of 
ancient Chinese and Japanese writers, and the early Jesuit 
missionaries, tend to prove that the worship of spirits and 
demons has been the basis of national belief since the 
earliest times. The god of the hills is even now the most 
popular deity. Worship of the spirits of heaven and earth, 
of the invisible powers of the air, of nature, of the morning 
star, of the guardian genii of the hills and rivers, and of 
the soil and grain, has been so long practised that, in spite 
of the influences of Confucianism, and the many centuries 
in which Buddhism has existed in the land, the actual 
worship of the great mass of the people has undergone 
little material alteration. However widespread this leaning 
of the lower classes towards demonolatry may be, the 
philosophy of Confucius has been from the fifteenth 
century the official and fashionable cult in Korea. In its 
middle period, it attained to that point when a religion, 
which at first was fostered by the few and has spread 
gradually until it became absorbed by the people, feels 
itself firmly established, and emphasises its ascendency by 
the bigotry of its assertions, its intolerance, and, crowning 
triumph of all usurping tenets, by the virulence of its 
persecution. Confucianism now overspreads the whole 
peninsula. From the fourth to the fourteenth century, 
when the religion of the Enlightened One prevailed, it was 
studied and practised only by the learned classes. Buddhism 
predominated throughout the southern half of the peninsula, 
and only partially leavened the northern division of the 
Empire, where it was unable to combat the teachings of Con- 



BUDDHISM 



239 



fucius. Throughout its development, however, Buddhism 
has exercised a potent influence in Korean affairs, which 
continued until the close of the last dynasty. The power 
of the bonzes at one time controlled the Court and nullified 




AX ALTAR-PIECE 



the decrees of the monarch. During its pristine supremacy 
it became the strongest and most formidable factor in the 
education of the country. It wielded unlimited and un- 
restricted power, while it guided the political and social re- 
volutions of the period. Great respect is still shown to the 
tenets of Buddhism in Korea. New monasteries and temples 
are in process of construction — the Buddhist priests of Japan 
and Korea making common cause against the activities of 
Western missionaries. The Emperor has also shown 
himself interested in the propagation of this faith, and, 
with Lady Om, he has given large sums to the restoration of 
certain dilapidated temples without the city. All things 



240 KOREA 

considered, Buddhism has left such a mark upon the 
history of the little kingdom that, although the purely ethical 
character of the teachings of Confucius be acknowledged, 
Korea must be classed among the Buddhist countries of 
the earth. 



CHAPTER XX 

The Abomination of desolation — Across Korea — The east 
coast — Fishing and filth 

The peace, piety, and sublime earnestness of the monks of 
the monasteries of Yu-chom and Chang-an is in startling 
contrast to the state of things at Shin-ki-sa. The magni- 
ficence of Yu-chom-sa, and the charitable benevolence 
of Chang-an-sa, engender a mood of sympathetic apprecia- 
tion and toleration towards those, whose lives are dedicated 
to the service of Buddha, in these isolated retreats of the 
Diamond Mountains. The spectacle presented by the 
monastery at the north-eastern base of the Keum-kang-san, 
however, reveals the existence of certain evils which happily 
do not disrigure the more important Buddhist centres 
in this region. It is not time which alone has brought 
about the disorder ; nor would the material decay be so 
lamentable if the dignity and charm of a picturesque ruin 
were not lacking. The tone of the monks here is totally 
different. Everything is neglected, and every one is in- 
different to the needs of the temples. A litter of broken 
tiles lies about the buildings ; dirt and dust, the natural 
consequences of carelessness and neglect, disgrace them 
within. The spirit of reverence is wanting. The scene is 
changed. 

2 H 



242 KOREA 

Shin-ki is a small monastery. Perhaps its temples have 
never been comparable with the shrines of Yu-chom-sa 
in grace and beauty. Nothing, however, can excuse the 
disorder and neglect of its court-yards, and the sloven- 
liness of the temple service. There seems to be nothing in 
common between this and those other monasteries, which 
rest within the heart of the ranges. One looks in vain for 
the courtly dignity of the aged Abbot of Yu-chom-sa, whose 
humanitarian spirit was so impressive. The principles of 
consideration, politeness, and devotion that govern his 
conduct are sadly lacking in the Abbot, the priests, and 
monks attached to Shin-ki-sa. The contrast is indeed 
great. The most painful emotions are excited by the 
decline which has taken place in the prosperity of the 
temples. Anger and sorrow fill the soul. As one gazes 
beyond the temples into the peace and beauty of the valley 
below, it is as if one were looking across from a place 
of abomination into another and a better world. The 
colourless skeleton of the past alone remains, and one longs 
for the power to restore the fabric to its former self. 

In its setting the monastery has caught something of the 
spirit of nature. If there is any compensating element in its 
decadence, it is found in the wild beauty of the rugged 
mountains, which tower above it from across the valley. 
Beyond their granite faces lie the trials and tribulations of 
the outer world ; once enclosed within their grey embrace 
the little ironies of life disappear. The hours are cool 
and undisturbed. Primeval forests adorn the deep gullies 
of the ranges ; a flood of colour comes from the open 
spaces where wild flowers are growing and the tints of 
the woodland foliage disclose an endless variety of green. 
In the centre of a patch, cleared of its undergrowth and 



DESOLATION 



243 



approached by a path winding through deep woods, is 
Mum-sa-am. This retreat is given over to the twenty nuns 
who are associated with Shin-ki-sa. I know nothing of 
their lives, but from the state of their temples, and the 





i 






'mm 


j <■■■■■ BJJ*!!?^^^ * ' - 1 



SHIN-KI-SA 



roughness and disorder of their surroundings, it did not 
appear to me that they, any more than the sixty priests, 
monks, and boys of the lower monastery, find the tenets 
of Buddha very elevating, or derive much satisfaction from 
the surrounding scenery. 

The history of our days in the more important monas- 
teries of the Diamond Mountains was uneventful. The 
anxious care and solicitude of the monks for the welfare of 
their guests was hourly manifested, and some kindly attention 
was shown to us at every possible opportunity. Cool and lofty 
quarters were allotted for our entertainment ; the resources 
of the monastery were placed at our disposal. The Abbot 
of Chang-an-sa prepared draughts of honey-water and cakes 



24+ KOREA 

of pine-seeds for our refreshment. Every morning supplies 
of honey, rice, and flour, and small bundles of fresh vege- 
tables were brought to the table ; throughout the day 
nothing was left undone, which, in the minds of these 
simple men, would be conducive to our comfort. A deep 
pool in the tumbling mountain-stream was reserved for our 
use, and when, in the fresh air of the morning, and again 
when the cool winds of the evening had tempered the heat 
of the day, we went to bathe, the Abbot, upon his own 
initiative, arranged that we should be left in undisturbed 
possession of the water-hole. 

The Temple, which we occupied during our stay at 
Chang-an-sa, contained The Altar of the Three Buddhas. 
The building was spacious and impressive. A wide verandah 
surrounded it, teak pillars supported a massive roof ; scrolls 
and allegorical pictures, illustrating incidents in the life of 
Buddha, decorated the wall. Layers of oiled paper carpeted 
the floor ; an altar cloth of silk, richly embroidered, small 
mats, bronze incense bowls and brass candelabra, embel- 
lished the altar, in the centre of which was a large gilt 
image of the Three Buddhas. Every evening at sunset, 
the monks who officiated in this Temple placed bowls 
of rice, honey, and pine-seed cakes upon the altar, and 
lighted the small lamps and candles which illuminated it. 
Prayers were not always said, nor were the services always 
the same, the numbers of the monks varying nightly accord- 
ing to the character of the special office. When the services 
concluded, there were many who found something to attract 
them in our small encampment. The} gathered round the 
kitchen ; they assisted the interpreter to cook, and tasted his 
dishes. They handled with amazement the cooking utensils of 
a camp-kitchen, the cutlery of a traveller's table. Occasion- 



ACROSS KOREA 



245 



ally, as their increasing familiarity brought about some 
small degree of intimacy between us, the monks would 
display their beads and alms-bowls for our inspection, 
requesting our acceptance of copies of their books in return 




THE ABBOT AND MONKS OF CHANG-AN-SA 



for photographs of their temples. The intricacies of a 
camera delighted them, the appearance of a sporting rifle 
created consternation in their breasts, and they were never 
tired of swinging in my camp-bed. 

Before the camp at Chang-an-sa was shifted to 
Yu-chom-sa, a fast friendship, engendered by many kindly 
acts and the uninterrupted expression of a thoughtful 
consideration for our needs, sprung up between the monks 
and ourselves. They consulted us about their ailments, 
which usually took the shape of an acute attack of indi- 
gestion or a form of intermittent dysentery. My medicines 
were limited to some quinine pills and a bottle of fruit salts; 



246 KOREA 

they accepted either prescription with gratitude and much 
melancholy philosophy. But although they remained always 
the same well-disposed visitors to our camp, I noted that they 
did not frequently present themselves as candidates for 
treatment again. When the moment came for our departure, 
many small gifts were pressed upon us. For a long time, 
too, it seemed as if it would be impossible to obtain an 
account of our indebtedness to the monastery. In the end 
the persuasion of the interpreter prevailed. When we added 
to the reckoning a few dollars for the funds of the 
monastery, the expressions of gratitude and appreciation, 
to which our little gift gave rise, made it almost possible 
to believe that the kindness and hospitality shown had been 
all on our side. 

Our quarters at Yu-chom-sa were in no sense inferior, 
and none the less delightful in their situation, to those 
which we left behind at Chang-an-sa. The guest-house in 
Yu-chom-sa affords views of the mountain torrent as it 
dashes through the boulder-strewn, tree-clad slopes of the 
valley. At Chang-an-sa we camped beneath the protecting 
eaves of the spacious verandah which surrounds the 
Temple of The Three Buddhas, avoiding whenever possible 
any general use of the sacred edifice. In the case of 
Yu-chom-sa, this diffidence was unnecessary ; the building 
placed at our disposal being that usually set aside for 
the requirements of those persons of official position who 
might be visiting the monastery. The apartments were clean, 
comfortable, and bright. They were hung with tablets, upon 
which had been inscribed the names and dignities of 
previous visitors. High walls enclosed the buildings, and 
massive gates preserved the compound from unexpected 
intrusion. The life in these encampments is one of ideal 



ACROSS KOREA 247 

peace and happiness. It was possible to work undisturbed 
and unprovoked by any harrowing influences. Indeed, 
there was no suggestion of any other existence. We lived in 
the seclusion of a sanctuary, where mortal misgivings had 
not penetrated, and where the tribulations, which oppress 
mankind, were unknown. 

Beyond Shin-ki-sa, a journey of fifteen //, a well- 
made road leads east north-east to the coast, which it 
touches at Syong-chik. The sight and scent of the sea, after 
the exhausting discomforts of Shin-ki-sa, was peculiarly 
welcome. Between Yu-chom-sa and Shin-ki-sa the 
country is intersected with marshes and rice-fields. The 
difficulties of marching through these bogs and mud-holes 
greatly impeded the horses. The road by the coast, if 
rough and stony in places, is at least free from these 
obstacles, affording a tortuous, but none the less pleasant, 
course. Wending across basaltic slopes, ascending their 
smooth surfaces by a series of roughly-hewn steps, it drops 
to a level of burnished sand. A sweep inland to the west 
and south-west avoids the rugged spurs of a neighbouring 
range. The sea licks the white sand with gentle murmurs 
and the slight breeze scarcely ripples the blue surface, the 
constant variations, which the golden sands and glittering 
sea, the open valleys and green hills present, adding to the 
charm and freshness of the journey. The feeling. of isola- 
tion, inseparable from travel in regions where the sense 
of freedom is shut out by a world of enclosing mountains, 
is at once lost in contact with the ocean and the ships that 
go down to it. Far out, in the great expanse of the peaceful 
sea, were fishing-boats, grey junks, hull down upon the 
horizon, their brown sails bellying spasmodically in the fitful 
gusts of the breeze. In the shallows off-shore men, brown 



248 KOREA 

and naked, dragged for herring and sprat while their 
children gathered crabs, diving after their victims in the 
deep pools with screams of delight. 

Around the hovels, in all these clusters of small villages 
by the waves, men slept in the blazing sunshine. While 
their lords reposed, the women mended the rents in the 
nets, or busied themselves in constructing crude traps, with 
the aid of which their husbands contrived to catch fish. The 
aspect of these villages upon the beach was not inviting ; 
and they did not compare favourably with any of the inland 
villages through which we had passed. They were dirty, 
tumble-down, and untidy ; the appearance of the people 
suggested great personal uncleanliness. The air was laden 
with the smell of fish drying in the sun — of itself a pleasant 
perfume, smacking of the salt of the sea — but here so 
mingled with the odours of decaying offal, piles of rubbish, 
and varieties of fish and seaweed in different stages of decom- 
position that the condensed effluvium was sickening. The 
people, however, were neither curious nor unkindly ; for the 
great part they were indifferent, offering baskets of fresh 
eggs, fish, and chickens readily for sale. The beach by 
these villages was black with rows of fish, drying, upon the 
white sand, in the most primitive fashion. The art of 
smoking fish is unknown, and the careless manner in which 
the curing is done proves that the treatment has neither 
principle nor system. Dogs lay upon these rows of fish, 
fowls feed undisturbed off them, and, in many places, men 
slept peacefully with a number of them heaped together, 
to serve as pillows for their weary heads. Where such 
neglect prevails, it is perhaps not unnatural that much of 
the disease among the Koreans should be attributed to. the 
dried fish which they eat so greedily. 



FISHING AND FILTH 249 

The trade in salted and sun-dried fish is extensive and 
finds its way all over the kingdom ; an overland traffic 
of considerable importance exists with the capital. Strings 
or stacks of dried fish are to be seen in every village. Pack 
ponies, and coolies laden with loads of dried fish, are met 
upon every road in the kingdom. The pedestrian who 
11 humps his own swag" almost always carries a small stock 
with him. The parallel industry to the business of curing 
fish is the operation of making salt from sea-water, a pursuit 
which is conducted in a manner equally rough and casual. 
In both of these industries there is a crying need for simple 
technical instruction, as well as for capital, the lack of which 
hinders the work from achieving any particular success. 
There is so much fish in the sea along the coast, that, if the 
catches were properly treated, the beginning of a prosperous 
export trade could be readily laid. At the present only 
a bare sufficiency is secured, the days of prosperity not yet 
having begun to dawn. The industry is completely paralysed 
by the exactions of the officials ; the fishermen, like the 
peasants, knowing only too well that an immunity from the 
demands of the Yamen is found only in a condition of 
extreme poverty. 

Many fishing villages were passed through in the journey 
from the Diamond Mountains. Each seemed to reflect the 
other, the sole difference between them lying in their size, 
the number of fishing-boats drawn up on the beach, the 
strength and density of their smells. The poverty and 
squalor of these hamlets was astonishing. The people 
seemed without spirit, content to live an idle, slatternly 
existence in sleeping, yawning, and eating by turns. Despite 
offers of payment, it was impossible to secure their services 
in a day's fishing, although they generally admitted that the 

2 1 



2 5 o KOREA 

boats, nets, and lines were not otherwise engaged. As the 
outcome of this spirit of indifference among the natives, 
Japanese fishermen are rapidly securing for themselves the 
fishing-grounds off the coast. Unless these dreary, medita- 
tive, and dirty people arouse themselves soon, the business 
of fishing in their own waters will have passed altogether 
from their hands. The Japanese catch fish at all seasons ; 
the Koreans at one only — when it suits them. They have 
consequently a diminishing influence in a trade so ex- 
ceedingly profitable that some ten thousand Japanese 
fishing-boats subsist by it. 

The filthy condition of the villages renders any stay in 
them perilous. It is wiser to camp beyond them in the 
open. It was my misfortune to stay in several, but in the 
village of Wha-ding, seventy-five It from Won-san, the 
virulence and variety of the insects surpassed all my ex- 
perience in Australia, America, Africa, or Asia. Fleas were 
everywhere ; they floated through the atmosphere, much as 
the north-west winds of New Zealand and the hot winds of 
Africa drive particles of fine sand through the air. In this 
case, however, nothing remained without its thin penetrating 
covering of fleas. One night in Wha-ding stands out as the 
most awful of these experiences. It was impossible to stand ; 
it was impossible to sit ; sleep was out of the question. We 
shook our clothes ; we bathed and washed and powdered. 
Every effort was a torture, and each precaution increased 
the ironies of the situation. To add to the plagues of this 
accursed place, we were deafened by the ear-splitting in- 
cantations of a sorcerer, who had been hired by the pro- 
prietor of the village inn to exorcise a devil that had 
bewitched him. We wondered, afterwards, whether this 
accounted for the damnable activity among the vermin. 



252 KOREA 

After a futile attempt to come to terms with the magician 
by bribery and corruption through the medium of my 
interpreter, it was arranged that one of the grooms should 
represent the evil spirit. He passed out into the desolation 
of the night and howled plaintively, while we, having 
collected the elders and the necromancer, solemnly fired 
our revolvers into the darkness at the departing spirit. 
Unfortunately, we did not convince the wizard that the 
devil had been expelled. It was not until, losing my temper 
and my reason together, I dropped his gongs and cymbals 
down a well, depositing him in it after them, that we were 
rid of the agonies of this additional nuisance. 




WITHOUT THE WALLS OF SEOUL 



CHAPTER XXI 



Drought — Starvation — Inland Disturbances — Rainfall and 
disease 



It is difficult for us in England to understand how far- 
reaching may be the evils, resulting from the complete 
failure of the rainfall, in countries where the population 
relies upon it for their daily bread. A brief mention, in the 
Press, of the lateness of the monsoon gives no sign of the 
anxiety with which many millions of people are regarding 
the approaching harvest. Water means life to the rice- 
fields, and a drought implies, not alone the failure of a 
staple crop, but famine, with disorder and starvation, 
disease and death, as its accompaniments. A drought in 
the rice-fields makes a holocaust of the people in the winter. 
The forces of law and order at the disposal of the Govern- 
ment of India place some restraint upon the populace. In 
the Far East, where the civil administration is incom- 



254 KOREA 

petent to deal with the exigencies of the situation, and the 
systematic dispensation of relief is unknown, the decima- 
tion of the population and the complete upheaval of the 
social fabric follows closely upon the break-down in nature. 
Indirectly, too, the consequences of famine in India prove 
this. 

An even more emphatic evidence of the effects of a 
. drought, where the population live upon the rice crop, is 
afforded by the appalling loss of life and the grave eruption 
of disorder, which took place in Korea as the conse- 
quence of the famine in 1901. Widespread ruin overtook 
the country ; the inland districts were thronged with mobs 
of desperate people. Persons, normally peace-loving and 
law-abiding, banded together to harass the country-side, in 
the hope of extorting sufficient food to keep their families 
and themselves from starvation. Hunger drove whole com- 
munities from the villages to the towns, where no provision 
for their welfare existed. Anarchy prevailed throughout 
the country, the dire needs of the population goading them 
to desperation. A horde of beggars invaded the capital. 
Deeds of violence made the streets of Seoul unsafe after 
darkness, and bandits carried on their depredations openly 
in the Metropolitan Province. From a peaceful and happy 
land of sunshine and repose, Korea was transformed, in a 
few months, into a wilderness of misery, poverty, and 
unrest. 

The measures for relief were quite inadequate, and 
although rice was imported, large numbers of the people, 
lacking the money with which to buy it, starved to death. 
The absence of an efficient organisation in the face of 
this further disaster increased the confusion. Before 
any arrangements could be made for their relief, several 



DROUGHT 



255 



thousands had died. More than 20,000 destitute people wer e 
discovered in Seoul, out of a population of rather less than 
200,000. Reports from the provincial centres disclosed a 
relapse into a state of absolute savagery in many rural 




THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, SEOUL 



districts. Famine, pestilence, and death stalked abroad in 
Korea for months, and many, who escaped starvation, lost 
their lives subsequently in the great wave of disease which 
swept over the land. 

It is impossible to believe that the famine would have 
assumed its late proportions had the Government of Korea 
maintained its embargo against the exportation of cereals 
from the country. There can be no doubt that the with- 
drawal of this prohibition contributed to the scarceness of 
the food-stuffs which were procurable by the people, when 
their straits were most severe. Mortality returns from the 



256 KOREA 

areas devastated by the famine prove that the welfare of 
more than one million persons was affected. The action of 
Japan, therefore, in insisting upon the suspension of the 
prohibition in order that the interests of some half-dozen 
Japanese rice merchants might not suffer, deserves the 
utmost condemnation. The primary responsibility for 
this great loss of life rests entirely with the Japanese 
Government. In terrorising the Government of Korea 
into an act, the consequences of which brought death to 
one million people, the Japanese Government committed 
themselves to a policy which traversed alike the dictates of 
reason and common sense, and outraged every principle of 
humanity. The impartial observer must hold Korea guilt- 
less in this matter. It is, indeed, deplorable that the 
vehement opposition of the Korean Government was not 
respected. Nevertheless, the incident is valuable, as an 
illustration of the objectionable attitude which distinguishes 
the Government of Japan in its relations with Korea. 

At the beginning of the drought the inhabitants of Seoul 
believed that the Rain God was incensed. The Emperor 
and his Court offered expiatory sacrifices upon three occa- 
sions. As the rains were still withheld a period of penance 
was proclaimed, in which prayers and fastings were or- 
dained, the populace ceasing from every form of labour and 
relapsing into a condition of supreme idleness. Unhappily, 
while the great mass of the people refrained from work, the 
Emperor continued to employ many hundreds of labourers 
upon the construction of the new Palace buildings. This 
proceeding was held by the superstitious subjects of His 
Majesty to account for the singular inclemency of the Rain 
Demon, and some anxiety was felt in the capital lest the 
usual calm of the city should be broken by riots. These 



STARVATION 257 

horrors were spared to Seoul, however, by the fortuitous 
visitation of a passing shower. Men and women resumed 
their toil, rejoicing in the belief that the evil influences had 
been overcome. It was, however, but a brief respite only 
that was granted. In a short time the drought prevailed 
throughout the land, drying up the rice-fields, scorching 
the pastures, and withering the crops. Under this baneful 
visitation, the circumstances of the people became very 
straitened. Hundreds were reduced to feeding off the 
wild roots and grass of the wayside, and isolated cases of 
cannibalism were reported. 

The exceptional character of the drought lends interest 
to the hydrometrical records for Chemulpo from 1887 to 
the middle of 190 1, which were forwarded to the bureau 
by the correspondent of the Physical Observatory, St. 
Petersburg. The rain-fall given is for the years 1887 to 
1900, inclusive, and the first half of 1901 ; the snow-fall is 
reduced to the proportion of water which the melted snow 
would make. Professor H. Hulbert has pointed out, how- 
ever, that in estimating what is or what is not a proper 
amount of rain, it is necessary to know in what season of 
the year the rain has fallen. Thirty inches of rain in 
November would be of less value to the rice-fields than 
half that amount if it fell in June. In the cultivation of 
rice, rain must fall at the proper time. Otherwise it is 
valueless, and, although adding to the actual measurement 
of the fall, a very considerable deluge, under these condi- 
tions, would be of no material advantage to agricultural 
interests. 



2 K 



258 



KOREA 



HYDROMETRICAL RECORD 



YEARS 


RAINFALL 


SNOWFALL 


1 

TOTAL 


FOG 


RAIN 


SNOW 


1887 


inches 

30.86 


2.00 


32.86 


13d 3h 


igd i7h 


4d 2h 


1888 


20.91 


2.15 


23.06 


i4 d 5 h 


i2d 6h 


3d 3 h 


I889 


28.18 


O.gi 


29.09 


25d 13I1 


25d 5h 


5d 9 h 


I89O 


47.00 


1.06 


48.O6 


i2d i8h 


27d ioh 


od 64L1 


I89I 


41.04 


1.66 


41.70 


13d 5h 


3od 2oh 


3d 7 h 


l892 


34-04 


1.20 


35-24 


i5d 2oh 


i6d ioh 


4d 6h 


1893 


50.64 


3-55 


54-19 


1 3id 5h 


36d 6h 


8d nh 


1894 


31.81 


0.64 


32.45 


33d i8h 


2id gh 


id 8h 


1895 


31.88 


2'o6 


33-94 


32d 7h 


2gd nh 


6d i7h 


I896 . 


31.08 


5.15 


36.23 


5id 7h 


27d oh 


2d oh 


1897 


48.35 


3.23 


51.58 


24d 5h 


3id 17b 


4d i8h 


1898 


37.80 


4-73 


42.53 


3id i4h 


29d igh 


5d 15b 


I899 


25.07 


2.05 


27.12 





i8d igh 


id 3h 


I900 


29.14 


0.83 


29.97 


_ 


2id 2h 


od 2oh 


I90I 


7.09 


o.c6 


7-15 


7 d 5h 


3d 7 h 


2d oh 



I give, also, the rainfall during the years 1898-190 1, at 
the period when a plenteous rain is of supreme importance 
to the rice industry : 



Year 


June 


July 


August 


Total 


1898 


4-5 


IO.O 


II. O 


25.5 


1899 


8-5 


7.5 


6.7 


22.7 


1900 


2.0 


6.2 


4-5 


12-7 


19OI 


0.3 


2.7 


I.I 


4.1 



In a rice-growing country such as this is, it is essential 
that an adequate supply of rain should fall during the three 
summer months to allow of the seed-rice being trans- 
planted and to ensure the maturing of the grain. In 
1901, owing to the lack of water, the bulk of the seed-rice 
was never transplanted at all. It simply withered away. 

It is, of course, inevitable that one of the immediate 



RAINFALL AND DISEASE 259 

results of famine should be a general increase of mortality 
throughout the country. The impoverished condition, to 
which so many thousands of Koreans were reduced, 
weakened their constitutions so seriously that, in many 
cases, even those who were fortunate enough to escape 
starvation found their powers fatally impaired. There were 
many whose inanition and general debility, resulting from 
their deprivations, had rendered them peculiarly susceptible 
to disease. More particularly was this the case in the inland 
districts. 

Under normal conditions, malaria is, perhaps, the most 
common disease in Korea. It prevails in all parts of the 
country, but it is specifically localised in sections where 
there are numerous rice-fields. Small-pox is nearly always 
present, breaking out in epidemic form every few years. 
Nearly all adults, and most children over ten years, will 
be found to have had it. Leprosy is fairly prevalent in the 
southern provinces, but it spreads very slowly. While this 
disease presents all the characteristics described in the 
text-books, the almost imperceptible increase, which dis 
tinguishes its existence in Korea, is strong presumptive 
evidence that it is non-infectious. 

The great enemy of health is the tubercle bacillus. The 
want of ventilation, the absence of sanitation, and the 
smallness of the houses, foster this little germ. Tubercular 
and joint diseases are common ; also fistula, hare-lip, dis- 
eases of the eye, throat and ear. The most common disease 
of the eye is cataract; of the ear, suppuration of the middle 
drum, in the great majority of cases the result of small-pox 
in childhood. Cases of nasal polypi are also very numerous. 
Hysteria is fairly common, while epilepsy and paralysis are 
among other nervous disorders which are encountered. 



260 



KOREA 



Indigestion is almost a national curse, the habit of eating 
rapidly large quantities of boiled rice and raw fish pro- 
moting this scourge. Toothache is less frequent than in 
other countries; diphtheria and typhoid are very rare, and 
scarlet fever scarcely exists. Typhus, malarial remittent 
fever, and relapsing fever are not uncommon. Venereal 
disease is about as general as it used to be in England. 

In short, there is a preponderance of diseases which 
result from filthy habits, as also of those produced by the 
indifferent qualities of the food, and the small and over- 
crowded houses. Most of the diseases common to 
humanity present themselves for treatment in Korea. 




AN IMPERIAL SUMMER HOUSE 

Erected to mark the spot where the corpse of the late 
Queen was burned by the Japanese. 




A BRIDGE SCENE IN SEOUL 



CHAPTER XXII 



The missionary question — Ethics of Christianity — Cant and 
commerce — The necessity for restraint 



The history of missionary enterprise in Korea abounds in 
illustrations of the remarkable manner in which French 
missionaries may be relied upon to offer up their lives 
for their country. It may be cynical to say so, yet there 
is much reason to believe that the Roman Catholic priests 
in the Far East of to-day are the agents provocateurs of their 
Government. They promote anarchy and outrage, even 
encompassing their own deaths, whenever the interests of 
their country demand it. From the beginnings of Chris- 
tianity in China they have wooed the glory of martyrdom, 
and they have repeated the process in Korea. 

Christianity made its way into Korea about 1777, by the 



262 KOREA 

chance arrival of a packet of translations in Chinese of the 
works of the Jesuits in Pekin. From this small beginning 
the ideas spread, until the King's Preceptor was compelled 
to fulminate a public document against this new belief. 
Finding this insufficient, examples were made of prominent 
enthusiasts. Many were tortured ; and others condemned 
to perpetual exile. Persecution continued until 1787 ; but 
the work of proselytism proceeded, despite the injurious 
attentions which converts received from the public 
executioners. 

The first attempt of a foreign missionary to enter Korea 
was made in 1791. It was not until three years later, how- 
ever, that any Western evangelist succeeded in evading the 
vigilance of the border sentinels. Where one came others 
naturally followed, undeterred by the violent deaths which 
so many of these intrepid Christians had suffered. While 
the French missionaries were prosecuting their perilous 
labours, in the face of the undisguised hostility of the great 
proportion of the people, and losing their lives as the price 
of this work, the walls Of isolation which Korea had built 
around herself were gradually sapped. Ships from France, 
Russia and Great Britain touched her shores during their 
explorations and trading ventures in the Yellow Sea. Under 
the association of ideas which sprang from the appearance 
of these strange ships, the Koreans grew accustomed to the 
notion that their world was not limited by the resources of 
their own country and the more distant territories of China. 
However, judging the sailors who fell into their hands by 
the standards of the French priests, who had set every law 
in the land at dehance, they at once killed them. This 
practice continued until 1866, when word reached the 
Admiral of a French squadron at Tientsin of the slaughter 



THE MISSIONARY QUESTION 263 

of his compatriots in Korea. Upon receipt of the news, an 
expedition was prepared, of itself an early manifestation of 
that policy by which the French Government is inspired 
in its dealings with missionaries and missionary questions 
in countries, the development of whose geographical or 
industrial peculiarities may be turned to advantage. 

For many centuries the land was without any accepted 
religious doctrine. Buddhism, which existed for one 
thousand years before the present dynasty came to the 
throne, had fallen into disfavour ; the tenets of Confucius 
did not completely satisfy the minds of the upper classes, 
and Shamanism was the worship of the more primitive 
masses. The moment was ripe for the introduction of a 
more practical philosophy, and in time, as the gospel of 
Christianity spread, opposition to the great creed of humani- 
tarianism lessened. Toleration of the many phases of 
Western belief is now general, the Korean finding in the 
profession of Christianity an easy means of evading the 
exactions of the officials. Nevertheless, the diffusion of 
Christianity is not unattended with bloodshed and disaster. 
Apart from this drawback to the propagation of Christian 
beliefs in Korea, it may be doubted whether the methods of 
the various missionary bodies bear the impress of that spirit 
of charity which should illustrate their teaching. Without 
impugning the individual attainments of any of the many 
missionary groups who administer to the needs of the 
Koreans, I find it difficult to affirm that the principles of 
self-abnegation so manifest in the lives of the Roman 
Catholic priests and the workers of the Church of England 
Mission, are equally in evidence in the comfortable exist- 
ence which is led by the well-paid attaches of the American 
Mission Boards. The French priests live in abject poverty ; 



264 KOREA 

striving to identify themselves with the conditions of their 
flock, they accept neither holiday nor reward as compensa- 
tion for their services. In this bare comparison of the 
principles of ministration, I do not wish, at the moment, to 
venture into the domain of controversy, but merely to 
convey some impression of the competing systems of 
procedure. 

The Church of England Mission, which has become 
known as the English Mission, under the direction of 
Bishop Corfe has adopted a system of communism. 
The expenses of board, lodging, clothing, laundry 
and fuel are met from a common fund, quarterly re- 
mitted from the Mission Treasurer to the responsible head 
of each Mission House. In proportion to the number of 
residents, the expenditure is returnable upon a pro rata 
calculation of about £70 per head per annum. This 
estimate includes the cost of the male staff. The propor- 
tionate rate of expenditure in respect of the lady 
workers of the English Mission is one-third of this 
annual disbursement less. The depots of the Mission are 
situated at Seoul, Chemulpo, Mok-po, and Kang-wha ; in 
addition to the stations in Korea, a chaplaincy is maintained 
in New-chwang. The chief centre of activity of this 
Mission is upon the island of Kang-wha. The task of im- 
proving the condition of the very poor, by means of educa- 
tion, kindness and patience, proceeds quietly at Chemulpo 
and Seoul too, where particular attention is given to the 
welfare of the sick. At one time, there were important dis- 
pensary and hospital institutes in these places, the medical 
establishment at Chemulpo, however, is now abandoned. 

The members of this Mission endure no little privation 
in the primitive simplicity of their surroundings. Their 



ETHICS OF CHRISTIANITY 265 

services, on the other hand, display much unnecessary 
pomp ; and the white, full-skirted cassock with rough 
hempen girdle, which they wear in public and private, 
emphasises their ritualistic tendencies, and is, to my mind, 
somewhat of an affectation. Nevertheless, in their daily 
practice, those associated with the Church of England 
Mission in Korea set before themselves that standard of 
idealism in missionary enterprise which is represented by 
the unnecessary sacrifices, the sublime heroism, and forti- 
tude distinguishing the priests of the Roman Catholic 
Church, a standard, 1 am compelled to admit, that other 
missions in the Far East — American, English, Scotch, and 
Irish — appear incapable of realising. 

The American missionary in the Far East is a curious 
creature. He represents a union of devices which have 
made him a factor of considerable commercial importance. 
American missionaries in Korea were formerly closely asso- 
ciated with the more important export houses in the leading 
industrial centres of America. Owing to diplomatic repre- 
sentation this practical demonstration of Western superi- 
ority is no longer openly indulged. In Seoul, however, 
an American missionary inconsiderately receives paying 
guests, causing a manifest loss of business to the Station 
Hotel ; in Won-san, another exploits his orchard. As a class 
they are necessarily newspaper correspondents and profes- 
sional photographers; upon rare occasions — and here I refer 
especially to a small coterie of American missionaries in 
Seoul — they are the scholarly students of the history, 
manners, customs and language of the country in which 
they happen to be placed. 

The American missionary has a salary which frequently ex- 
ceeds ^200 a year, and is invariably pleasantly supplemented 

2 L 



266 KOREA 

by additional allowances. Houses and servants are pro- 
vided free, or grants are made for house rent ; there is a 
provision for the education of the children, and an annual 
capitation payment is made for each child. As a class, 
American missionaries have large families, who live in com- 
parative idleness and luxury. In Korea, they own the most 
attractive and commodious houses in the foreign settle- 
ments, and appear to me to extract from their surroundings 
the maximum of profit for the minimum of labour. I do 
not know whether it is with the permission of the executive 
officers of the American Mission Boards that their represen- 
tatives combine commerce with their mission to the heathen. 
When a missionary devotes no little portion of his time to 
literary labours, to the care of an insurance agency, to the 
needs of a fruit farm, or to the manifold exigencies of casual 
commerce, it seems to me that the interests of those who sit 
in darkness must suffer. 

American mission agents have made Korea their peculiar 
field. Converts, who prattle of Christianity in a marked 
American accent, are among the features of the capital in 
the twentieth century. Mission centres, which have been 
created in a number of places, now show signs of prosperity. 
They enlist no little practical sympathy and support from 
the native population. The self-supporting character of 
much of the missionary work in Korea bears out the spirit 
of toleration which distinguishes the attitude of the people 
towards the propaganda. It is not to be supposed that the 
work of the missionaries is agreeable to all shades of native 
opinion. Riots and bloodshed disfigure the path of prose- 
lytism, the credulity of the natives entailing heavy sacrifices of 
life. The disturbances which have thus marked the spread of 
Christianity in Korea, notably in the anti-Christian rising in 



THE NECESSITY FOR RESTRAINT 267 

Quelpart, a few months ago, are due to the jealousy with 
which the heathen mass of the population regard the pro- 
tection from official rapacity, enjoyed by those who accept 
The Light. 

In the case of Quelpart, this feeling of animosity, and 
the immunity from taxation which the French priests gave 
to their following, created an intolerable position. Anarchy 
swept over the island, and some six hundred believers were 
put summarily to death. Whatever may be the compen- 
sating advantages of this martyrdom, the reckless and profli- 
gate sacrifice of life, which missionary indiscretion in the Far 
East has promoted, is an outrage upon modern civilisation. 
We have passed through one terrible anti-Christian upheaval 
in China, and, if we wish to avoid another such manifesta- 
tion, it is necessary to superintend all forms of missionary 
enterprise more closely. This, however, can be done only 
by legislative supervision, imposing restraint in the direction 
which recent events have indicated. It is imperative that 
certain measures should be adopted in missionary work 
which will ensure the safety of the individual zealot, and be 
agreeable to the general comfort of the community. It is 
unfortunate, but inevitable, that such reforms must be 
radical. The violence of missionary enterprise during 
recent years has been altogether unbridled. The great 
activity of the different societies, resulting from their un- 
restricted liberty, has recoiled most fatally upon the more 
indefatigable, as well as upon the heads of many wholly 
innocent of any unwarrantable religious persecution. The 
time has come, therefore, when vigorous restrictions should 
chasten this vigorous, polemical proselytism. The practice 
of scattering missionaries broadcast over the interior of 
these Far Eastern countries should not continue ; the assent 



268 



KOREA 



of the local Consul and a representative council of the 
Foreign Ministers should be required in every case. More- 
over, it would be wiser, if, under no conceivable circum- 




THE STREETS ARE MAGNIFICENT 



stances, single women were permitted to proselytise beyond 
the carefully prescribed treaty limits of the different 
settlements. Again, missionaries with families, as well as 
single women, should not be allowed to live beyond the 
areas of these neutral zones. 

These restraints upon missionary labours will, of course, 
be resented. If the total number of lives which have been 
lost in Korea, China, and Japan, by the interference of 
Western missionaries, were published, their vast aggregate 
would reveal to the unthinking masses of the public how 
urgent is the need for strong action. Such restraint is 
morally justifiable by the appalling massacres with which 



THE NECESSITY FOR RESTRAINT 269 

the world is now familiar. The blind perseverance of the 
missionary has frequently brought about the simultaneous 
baptism and crucifixion of the convert. What more does 
the fanatical enthusiast wish than that some one should be 
thus doubly glorified by his means ? The increasing death- 
roll among masters and pupils supplies the only necessary 
argument for immediate rectification of the entire system of 
missionary enterprise. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Inland journeying — Ponies, servants, interpreters, food and 
accommodation — What to take and how to take it — Up the 
Han River, frolic and leisure 

Travelling in the inland regions of Korea is not the 
most comfortable pastime which can be devised, although it 
has many attractions. The lively bustle of the roads 
gradually gives place to the passing panorama of the 
scenery, which presents in constant variation a landscape 
of much natural beauty, with hills and meadows, bush-clad 
mountains and rice-fields, rivers, lakes, and raging torrents 
as prominent features. The shifting camp soon leaves the 
outposts of civilisation behind. This slow passing into the 
wilderness gives a subtle charm to the journey. Each turn 
of the track emphasises the desolation of the ever-changing 
scene. The wide expanse of plains and valleys makes way 
for the depths of wild and gloomy forests, where the ragged 
mountain-paths are slippery and dangerous. The ozone of 
a new life pervades the air. There is no doubt that such 
moments seem, for the time, the most perfect existence 
imaginable. Freedom is untrammelled by a care; the world 
for the day is comprised w T ithin a space as great as can be 
seen. Upon the morrow, its limitation is only a little more 
remote. The birds of the air, he beasts of the field, the 



INLAND JOURNEYING 271 

game in the bushes, supply the provender of the camp. 
Villages provide rice, vegetables and eggs, the hill-side 
springs give water, the rivers permit bathing. The air is 
pure, and the whole aspect of life is beautiful and joyous. 

At the end of a trying day, one, perhaps, marred by an 
accident to an animal, trouble with the native servants, rain, 
fog, or the difficulties of the track, there is the evening 
camp. Those hours of rest and idleness, when the horses 
are fed and groomed, the packs unswung, the camp-beds 
slung beneath the mosquito curtains, and the evening meal 
prepared, are full of a supreme sensation of contentment. 
I have always loved these moments of peace, accepting 
what they brought as the best that life held for me at the 
time. At such an hour the refinements of civilisation and 
the restrictions of convention seem puerile enough. More- 
over, there is much material benefit to be derived from 
such an undertaking. The trials and difficulties develop 
stability of character; the risks and dangers promote 
resource and self-reliance. There is much to be learnt 
from this contact with a human nature differing so radically 
from the prescribed types and patterns of the Western 
standard. There is something new in every phase of the 
experience. If it be only an impression, such as I have 
endeavoured to trace in these few lines, it is one which 
lingers in the mind long after other memories have faded. 

Preparation for an inland journey of any extent takes a 
considerable time ; ponies have to be hired, servants en- 
gaged, and interpreters secured. It is as well to personally 
examine the pack ponies which are to carry the loads. 
Koreans treat their animals shamefully, and the mission- 
aries make no efforts to lighten the lot of these unhappy 
beasts. In consequence of the carelessness with which the 



272 KOREA 

ponies are treated by their Korean masters, the poor little 
brutes suffer from back-sores larger and more dreadful than 
anything I have seen in any other part of the globe. If the 
Koreans could be taught the rudiments of horse-mastering 
and a more humane principle of loading and packing their 
rough saddles, as well as some practical veterinary know- 
ledge, the lot of the unlucky little pony of the capital might 
be softened. But the spectacle of broken knees, raw necks, 
bleeding backs, and sore heels which these poor animals 
present, as they pass in quick succession along the streets 
of Seoul, is revolting. The American missionaries boast so- 
much of their good deeds that it seems strange that they 
should neglect such a crying evil as this. There is, I 
presume, no credit to be " gotten " from alleviating the 
sufferings of a mere, broken-down, Korean pack pony. 

Large numbers of the pack ponies of Korea come from 
Quelpart. They are diminutive in size, little larger than the 
Shetland breed, and rather smaller than the Welsh pony. 
They are usually stallions, given to fighting and kicking 
amongst themselves, and reputed savage. Their wildness is 
aggravated through a daily irritation by the rough surfaces 
of their pack saddles of the inflamed swellings on their 
backs. They endure longer marches and shorter food 
allowances than almost any other species of horse ; they are 
quick in their gait, very strong, and willing, good feeders, 
and reveal extraordinary obstinacy, tenacity, and patience. 
Much of the pleasure in my travels in Korea, however, was 
entirely spoilt by the abominable neglect with which thenative 
grooms treated their charges. Their dreadful condition 
goaded one to fury, and almost daily I remonstrated with one 
or other of the grooms for gross cruelty. My remarks had 
not the smallest effect, however, save that they wore me out, 



INLAND JOURNEYING 273 

and in the end I abandoned my expeditions to avoid the 
horrors of such spectacles. The Korean is quite callous to 
the sufferings of his animals. He will feed them well, and he 
will willingly disturb himself at night to prepare their food ; 
but he will not allow ulcerated and running wounds to in- 
terfere with the daily work of the poor beasts. This is com- 
prehensible ; but he will not, upon his own initiative, even 
endeavour to bridge the sore by the tricky placing of a pad. 
However bad the gathering may be, on goes the load, the 
agony of the poor pony manifesting itself in a flourish of 
kicks, bites, and squeals. 

In demonstration of this extreme callousness I may 
mention this incident. Once, outside Won-san, I saw a 
Korean seat himself upon the side of a stone, and leisurely 
proceed to rain blows upon the head of a dog which he was 
holding, until the poor thing collapsed insensible. He 
then beat it about the ribs, and put the body on the embers 
of a fire. We were several hundred yards off when 
this attracted my notice ; but I chased the brute across 
two paddy stretches, until the heavy going compelled me to 
abandon it. At a later time I noticed that the grooms were 
most careful to dress the backs of the horses at our 
different halts, and also to endeavour to prevent the pack 
saddles from rubbing the wounds, prompted, I have no 
doubt, to this most desirable kindliness by the lesson which 
they had read between the lines upon the occasion of the dog 
incident. 

The character of the native followers who accompany 
these journeys is a matter of great importance to the future 
welfare of the traveller. The proprietor of the Station 
Hotel, Seoul, secured me an excellent boy. Shortly after 
entering my service, an American missionary, who had been 

2 M 



274 KOREA 

hankering after the lad for some time before he was brought 
to me, suborned him. He deserted me upon the eve of my 
second expedition. This trick is seldom perpetrated 
east of Suez between Europeans with native servants ; it is 
one of the few unwritten laws of the East and observed 
everywhere. I reported the matter to the American 
Minister, Dr. Allen, but the missionary kept the boy. 
Servants, grooms, and a coolie of a sort, are all necessary 
upon these expeditions ; one groom to each horse is a 
wise allowance. Koreans like to send three horses to two 
men ; however, my division is the better. Europeans re- 
quire a body-servant, who will look after the personal effects 
of his master, and wait at table. An interpreter, who can 
speak Chinese and some European language, either German, 
French, or English, is invaluable. It is safer in each case 
to take men who are not converts. A coolie is useful and 
gives a little variety to the beasts of burden ; he carries the 
camera, water-bottles, and small impedimenta of the hour. 
A chef is not really necessary — my interpreter voluntarily 
served as cook. The interpreter in any journey inland 
should be mounted ; it saves considerable friction if the 
personal servants be allowed to ride on the baggage ponies. 
Interpreters receive from thirty to forty dollars a month ; 
personal servants from eight to twenty dollars a month ; 
coolies from eight to ten dollars a month. The hire for the 
horses, with whom the grooms are included, is a dollar a 
day, half the amount paid down in advance upon the day of 
starting. All calculations are made in Korean currency. 
The entire staff, except the horses and grooms, is fed by the 
traveller. The interpreter takes charge of the accounts. 
He will, if ordered, take down the Chinese and Korean names 
of the villages, streams, lakes, valleys, plains, mountains and 



FOOD AND ACCOMMODATION 275 

roads which are passed. This is useful ; the map of Korea 
is most hopelessly out of date, and by forwarding these 
names to the Geographical Society some little good is 
accomplished. The interpreter will pay the coolies, grooms, 
and other servants in debased currency, and charge the 
account in Mexican dollars, making a profit of seventy-five 
per cent. ; he is greedy and tenacious to the interests of his 
pocket, and he will suggest that he requires a servant. For this 
remark he should be flogged. He will muddle his accounts 
whenever he can ; he will lose receipts if he can find no 
other way of squeezing. He is apparently an innocent, 
transparently honest, and devoted to the principles of 
sobriety and virtue — unless there is an opportunity to go the 
usual path. Under every condition he should be watched. 

The Korean does not approach the Chinaman as a body- 
servant ; he has neither initiative nor the capacity for the 
work, while he combines intemperance, immorality, and 
laziness in varying degrees. The master usually ends 
by waiting upon his man. There is, however, an antidote 
for this state of things. If sufficient point be put into the 
argument, and the demonstration be further enforced by an 
occasional kick, as circumstances may require, it is possible 
to convert a first-class, sun-loving wastrel into a willing, if un- 
intelligent, servant. Under any conditions, his dishonesty 
will be incorrigible. 

It is never necessary to take any large stock of provisions 
when travelling in Korea. Eggs, fowl, fresh fish, fruit, 
matches, tobacco, vegetables, and crushed rice flour can be 
procured at any village in large quantities. The inhabitants 
will perhaps declare that there are no such things in the 
village ; that they are miserably poor. The village usually 
bears the stamp of its condition pretty plainly, and I found 



276 KOREA 

that where this occurred the most effectual remedy was to 
call up the oldest man visible, to offer him a cigarette, to 
calm him down, and then to give the interpreter some 
money and to send off the pair of them. Once this system 
failed in a flea-infested hole on the west coast, where the 
village inn had no stables, and I really thought there were 
no fowls ; of a sudden, as though satirising the expression 
of regret of several villagers, two fowls fluttered over a wall 
into the road. The meeting broke up in confusion. The 
grooms, the servants and the interpreter at once tackled the 
mob, laying about them with their whips ; little damage was 
done, but considerable commotion ensued, and stables, fowls 
and eggs were at once forthcoming and<as promptly paid for. 
In regard to payments made to the villagers, it is as well to make 
certain that the grooms pay for the horses' accommodation ; 
if they can avoid it they will do so, and a memory of this 
lingering in the mind of the inn-keeper, makes him shut his 
doors when the next foreigner is passing. But, in a general 
way, if everything is paid for, anything is procurable — even 
crockery and charcoal stoves, at a pinch, when the diffi- 
culties of the precipitous track have played unusual havoc 
in the china basket. 

In the routine of the march, it is pleasant to camp beyond 
the village for the noonday halt ; near the river, if the 
weather permits bathing. The food can be prepared in the 
sunlight under some trees. This picnic halt gives an agree- 
able change from the native inn, over which the missionaries 
wail perpetually ; it is, indeed, always to be avoided. I was 
several times in Korean inns, driven in by some sudden and 
temporary downpour, which cut off my retreat. The evening 
camp made me independent of them in general ; every 
evening the interpreter found the cleanest-looking private 



FOOD AND ACCOMMODATION 277 

house and bargained with its proprietor to let two rooms 
for the time of my visit. The arrangement was never 
refused, nor was I ever subjected to rudeness or to any insult 
upon these occasions. The family would freely help my 
servants, and when the grooms had removed themselves 
and their horses to the inn stables, no one was disturbed. 
The boy prepared breakfast in the morning. The space 
allotted to us was always ample for my camp-bed, kit, and 
mosquito curtains. It opened, as a rule, upon the court- 
yard, around which the house is built. There was plenty of 
air, as one side was open ; the flooring was of thick timbers, 
raised from the ground. If the weather proved inclement 
the place afforded warmth and shelter. Moreover, this 
system has much to commend it on the score of cleanli- 
ness ; the price paid by me, half a dollar, for the rooms was 
of course usually double the price which had been arranged. 
Occasionally while travelling, when these private houses 
were unprocurable, other makeshifts had to be adopted, an 
open encampment or the official quarters at the Yamen. 
This latter place was inconvenient, and we always accepted 
anything of a private nature rather than venture into the 
Yamen or the inn. Many nights were passed upon the 
verandahs of these houses, with a private room leading from 
it at the back, in case it became necessary. Our beds were 
pitched as much in the open as possible, the silent beauty of 
the night hours quite justifying the measure. Many nights 
I undressed upon the edge of the street, my camp-bed 
pitched beneath a verandah, a peaceful and inoffensive 
crowd of Koreans smoking and watching me a few feet off. 
I would get into my sleeping-suit, roll into my camp-bed, 
and close the mosquito curtains, upon which the crowd 
would quietly disperse. As publicity was unavoidable, and 



278 KOREA 

it was useless to object, it was easier to accept the situation 
than to struggle with the curiosity of the spectators. 

It is always well to dispense with everything which can 
be discarded. A camp-bed well off the ground and more 
strongly made than those of the usual American pattern, is 
essential ; a field kit canvas valise, the Wolseley pattern, 
containing a pocket at either end, with a cork mattress, is 
also indispensable. It will carry all personal effects. 
Flannel shirts, towels, socks and the like, including a book 
or two, writing materials, mackintosh sheets, mosquito 
curtains, and insect-powder are all which need to be in- 
cluded. Fresh mint is useful against fleas if thrown about 
near the sleeping things in little heaps. It is an invaluable 
remedy and usually effective, though, by the way, I found 
the fleas and bugs in the houses of New York and 
Philadelphia infinitely less amenable to such treatment 
than any I came across in Korea during my stay there. 
A camera, a colonial saddle, Zeiss glasses, a shot-gun, a 
sporting-rifle, a revolver, a hunting-knife, and a large 
vulcanite water-bottle are necessary. A supply of sparklets 
is to be recommended ; these articles, with a coil of rope, 
balls of string, jam, cocoa, tea, sugar, alcohol, potted meats, 
tinned fruits, and biscuits, enamelled ware eating and 
cooking things, with a few toilet accessories, completed my 
materials. It is good policy to take a small hamper of 
wines and luxuries, in case the opportunity occurs of 
extending hospitality to an official or some other travelling 
European. They are very serviceable among the officials. 
Native tobacco is light, mild, and easily smokable. I 
carried a pouch of it invariably. Canvas valises of the 
service type are better than any kind of a box. With this 
arrangement there are no corners or sharp edges to hurt 



UP THE HAN RIVER 279 

the horses, and as a load, too, they do not make such hard, 
unyielding objects against the side of a horse as any leather, 
tin, or wooden contrivance. Mv bed and field-kit just 
balanced upon one pony ; my provisions and servants' 
baggage fitted another. There was one spare pony. The 
interpreter and myself rode ; the servants were mounted 
upon the baggage animals, the coolie walked. 

At one time, when I was travelling with a German 
friend, our retinue was exceedingly numerous ; we each 
had our personal establishment and a combined staff for 
the expedition. This, however, is not quite the way to 
rough it. It was, moreover, comparatively expensive and 
a bother, inasmuch that so large a cavalcade required no 
little managing. There was, however, something luxurious 
and enjoyable in that procession across Korea, although it is 
not the plan to be adopted in general. 

There was little further to be accomplished by me in 
Korea. My journey overland had taken me from Fusan to 
Seoul, and again from Seoul to Won-san, my examination 
of the inland and coast centres of mining and industry was 
concluded : the beauties of the Diamond Mountains, with 
their Buddhist monasteries, had been studied. At the end 
of these labours, I was weary and ill at ease ; moreover the 
time was approaching when my long journey overland 
from Seoul, the ancient capital of Korea, to Vladivostock, 
the seat of Russian authority upon the Pacific coast, would 
have to be begun. The heat in Seoul had been most 
oppressive, when one day Mr. Gubbins, the British Minister, 
suggested a short spell of rest and recuperation upon an 
island a few miles up the Han River. Before nightfall, my 
staff and I were floating, with the turn of the tide, up 
the estuary of the river. Sea breezes blew over the mighty 



28o KOREA 

expanse of the smoothly gliding waters, and the burden of 
weariness which had been depressing me, lightened under 
the influence of these gusty winds and the freshening air 
from the harbour. The change from the hot and stuffy 
surroundings of the capital, where the crowds had ceased to 
be attractive and domestic bothers, arising from the pre- 
paration for my Vladivostock journey, had begun to jar 
upon the nerves, was most entrancing. When the moon 
burst out from behind a blackened canopy of cloud, as we 
sailed easily against the rapid current of the river, the 
rugged outline of the cliffs across the waters proved the 
reality of the transformation. During the small hours of 
the night I lay aw T ake, playing with the bubbles and froth of 
the water in sweet contentment. I resolved to dally for a 
few days upon the small islands in the stream, halting in 
the heat of the sun and moving forward at night or in the 
twilight, when sea-birds could be killed for the pot and fish 
dragged from their cool depths for the breakfast dish. How 
delightful were the plunges into that swift current ; and 
how often they were taken in the cool shade of some island 
backwater ! Care and anxiety dropped away in those days 
of idle frolic, giving the mind, worn by the strain of many 
months of travel and the hardships of two campaigns, 
opportunity to recover its vigour. Then came some pleasant 
weeks in the island monastery, where, from a Buddhist 
haunt, perched high upon a lofty peak on Kang-wha, mile 
upon mile of smiling scenery lay open to inspection from 
my chamber window. 

The salt water estuary of the Han is tempestuous and 
deep, given over to much shipping and small craft. The 
river itself does not begin for twenty miles above the tide- 
water mouth, the intervening stretch of water belonging 




2 N 



282 



KOREA 



more correctly to the sea. Above Chemulpo, where the 
full force of the Han current is hardly felt, the velocity 
of the stream is quite five knots an hour. Where the 
breadth of the river narrows the rapidity of the flow 




ON THE HAN RIVER 



increases. At a point, where the river makes a sudden 
sweep round some overhanging bluffs, which confront each 
other from opposite banks, the heavy volume of water thus 
tumbling down becomes a swirling, boisterous mill-race, as 
it twists and foams through its tortuous channels into 
another tide-swollen reach. The place of meeting between 
the sea and the river current shows itself in a line of choppy 
water, neither rough nor smooth, The water is always 
bubbling and always breaking at this point, in a manner 
poetically suggestive of the spirits of the restless deep. The 
Han river gives access to Seoul. In the days before the 
railway, the choice of route to the capital lay between 



UP THE HAN RIVER 283 

spending a night aground upon one of the many shifting 
sand-banks in the river or the risks of a belated journey 
overland, with pack ponies and the delights of a sand-bath 
in the Little Sahara. There were many who found the " all 
land " way preferable to the " land and water system," to 
which many groundings and much wading reduced the 
experiment of travelling by junk or steam-launch in those 
days. Now, however, the iron horse rules the road. 




WASHING CLOTHES IN A DRAIN 



CHAPTER XXIV 



Kang-wha, brief history of the island — A monastic retreat, an 
ideal rest — Nocturnal visitors — Midnight masses— Return to 
the capital — Preparations for a great journey — Riots and 
confusion 



Kang-wha, the island to which I was sailing in these easy 
stages, lies in the north-east quarter of the gulf, formed by 
the right angle which the coast makes before taking that 
northerly sweep which carries it, with a curve, to the mouth 
of the Yalu River. On the south and south-west, Kang- 
wha is exposed to the open sea ; on the north, the island is 
separated from the mainland by the Han estuary ; and on 
the east a narrow strait, scarce two hundred yards wide, 
through which boats, journeying from Chemulpo to Seoul 
must travel, severs the island from the mainland. 



KANG-WHA 285 

The geographical features of the island include four 
clearly-defined ranges of mountains, with peaks attaining 
to an altitude of some two thousand feet. Broad and fertile 
valleys, running from east to west, separate these ranges, the 
agricultural industry of the population being conducted in 
their open spaces. The villages and farmsteads, in which 
the farming population dwell, are folded away in little 
hollows along the sides of the valleys, securing shelter and 
protection from the severity of the winter. Many hundred 
acres of the flats, which form the approaches to these valleys 
from the coast, have been reclaimed from the sea during 
the last two centuries, the erection of sea dykes of consider- 
able length and immense strength having proceeded apace. 
But for these heavy earthworks, what is now a flourishing 
agricultural area would be nothing but a sea of mud washed 
by every spring tide. The continuous encroachment of the 
sea threatened at one time the extinction of all the low- 
lying level land. 

Kang-wha, with its curious monasteries and high pro- 
tecting battlements, now reduced to picturesque decay, 
played a prominent part in the early history of Korea. It 
has repelled invasion, and afforded sanctuary to the Royal 
Family and the Government in days of trouble ; the bold- 
ness of its position has made it the first outpost to be 
attacked and the most important to be defended. Twice in 
the thirteenth century the capital was removed to Kang-wha 
under stress of foreign invasion. With the exception of the 
terrible Japanese invasion under Hideyoshi in 1592, and the 
Chino-Japanese War in 1894-95, Kang-wha has felt the full 
force of nearly every foreign expedition which has dis- 
turbed the peace of the country during the past eight 
centuries, notably those of the Mongols in the thirteenth, of 



286 KOREA 

the Manchus in the seventeenth centuries, of the French in 
1866, and of the Americans in 1871. Furthermore, Kang- 
wha was the scene of the affair between Koreans and 
Japanese which led to the conclusion of the first treaty 
between Korea and Japan in 1876. The actual signing of 
that instrument, the first of the series which has thrown 
open Korea to the world, took place in Kang-wha city. 
The predecessor of the present Emperor of Korea was born 
in Kang-wha in 183 1, living in retirement in the capital city 
until he was called to the throne in 1849. Upon occasion, 
Kang-wha has been deemed a suitable place of exile for 
dethroned monarchs, inconvenient scions of Royalty, and 
disgraced Ministers. 

At two points in the narrow strait upon the east are 
ferries to carry passengers to the mainland. Kang-song, 
where the stream makes an abrupt turn between low cliffs, 
is the scene of the American expedition of 1871 ; near the 
southern entrance of the strait, and close to the ferry, are 
the forts which repelled the American storming-party. The 
famous rapids and whirlpool of Son-dol-mok, whose evil 
reputation is the terror of the coast, are close by. There 
are numerous forts dotted round the coast of the island, re- 
calling the Martello towers of Great Britain. They were 
not all erected at one time ; the majority of them date only 
from the close of the seventeenth century, having been 
raised in the early years of Suk-chong. The rampart upon 
the eastern shore, which frowns down upon the straits and 
river below, was erected in 1253. Ko-chong, of the Ko-ryo 
dynasty, fled before the Mongol invasion of that date, re- 
moving his Court and capital from Song-do to Kang-wha. 
Kak-kot-chi, where there is a second ferry, is a few miles 
beyond Kang-song. At the point where the ferry plies, 



KANG-WHA 287 

the hill of Mun-su rises twelve hundred feet high from 
the water's edge. From a junk a short distance from the 
shore it appears to block the straits, so closely do the cliffs 
of Kang-wha gather to the mainland. This little place 
became the headquarters of the French expeditionary force 
in 1866. 

The capital of the island, Kang-wha city, is a battle- 
mented citadel, with walls fifteen // in circumference, and four 
pavilioned city gates. It is a garrison town, beautiful in its 
combination of green vistas and ancient, crumbling walls. 
The Chino-Japanese War, so fatal to many of the old 
institutions of Korea, diminished the ancient glory of 
Kang-wha. For two hundred and sixty years prior to 
this campaign, Kang-wha ranked with Song-do, Kang-chyu, 
Syu-won and Chyon-chyon as one of the O-to, or Five 
Citadels, upon which the safety of the Empire depended. 
It controlled a garrison of ten thousand troops; the various 
officials numbered nearly one thousand. The change in 
the destiny of the kingdom brought a turn in the fortunes 
of the island, and it is now administered by an official of 
little importance. It is still, however, the seat of govern- 
ment for a widely scattered region, and the centre of trade 
and industry for some thirty thousand people. Agriculture 
is the staple industry ; stone-quarrying and mat-making are 
other means by which the population exists. At the 
water's-side there are salt-pans; a certain amount of fishing, 
a little pottery-making, smelting, the weaving of coarse 
linen, to which work the wives of the farmers devote 
themselves, complete the occupation of the inhabitants. 
One pursuit, horse-breeding, for which Kang-wha was 
once famous, is now completely abandoned. 

There are nine monasteries under the government of 



288 KOREA 

the island. Seven are situated upon the island ; the chief 
of these is the fortified monastery of Chung-deung, the 
Temple of Histories, the sometime pillar of defence of the 
Kingdom, thirty li south of Kang-wha, famous as the scene 
of the reverse suffered by the French troops in 1866. 
Mun-su-sa, standing upon the mainland opposite, is in- 
cluded in this little colony of Buddhistic retreats, as is 
another, upon the island of Ma-eum-to, called Po-mun-sa, 
famous for the wildness of its scenery and for a natural 
rock temple in the side of the hill upon which it stands. 
The monks of Chung-deung-sa enjoyed military rank until 
quite recently. They were regarded as soldiers in times of 
national distress ; they received Government allowances, 
food, and arms, in order to maintain them in a state of 
efficiency. Buddhism has lost much of its hold upon the 
islanders, although it existed before 1266. There is a 
branch of the English Mission (Seoul) in Kang-wha, under 
the administration of the Rev. Mark Napier Tiol'ope, whose 
notes upon this island were presented in a paper which their 
author read before the local branch of the Royal Asiatic 
Society during my stay in Korea. They materially assisted 
me to collect the interesting data from which these few 
paragraphs have been compiled. 

I stayed five weeks in Kang-wha monastery, preparing 
the skeleton of this present volume. Having gone there for a 
week at the outside, I found the quiet and solitude of the 
spot such a sanctuary from trouble, and such a panacea to 
the nerves, that I was loath to abandon it. After a few days 
in the cramped confinement of the native junk which had 
conveyed me from Chemulpo, delaying much en route, it 
was pleasant to stretch my limbs again upon the shore. 
Landing one morning at daybreak, I fell upon the unsus- 



A MONASTIC RETREAT 289 

pecting guardian of the English Mission, Father Trollope, 
and moved off at a later hour in the day across country to 
the monastery. The monks were not at all disturbed by 
my intrusion. Although strangers are not such frequent 
visitors to this monastery as to those in the Diamond 
Mountains, their presence excites no comment, and they 
are allowed to go their way with that kindly indifference 
to their existence which is, under the circumstances, the 
height of courtesy. The Chief Abbot was informed of my 
arrival, and, after a little explanation, ordered a very airy 
building to be prepared for my reception. It was well 
raised from the ground, and, situated just below the main 
courtyard, afforded a magnificent view of the entire 
domain. In the distance I could see the farm-lands of 
the island and the sparkle of the sunlight upon the water ; 
more within the picture, and quite near to my new home, 
were two wells, a running stream, and a stretch of moun- 
tain slopes, cool, fragrant, and overgrown with scrub and 
bush. Temples revealed themselves in a sea of foliage, 
through which the drifting breezes played soft music. At 
one end of this Hall of Entertainment were placed the 
cooking and eating paraphernalia, in the middle my camp- 
bed, and, overlooking the landscape, an improvised w 7 riting 
table with my books and papers. There was no element of 
unrest in the setting of my little camp. Every morning the 
Chief Abbot welcomed me to the glories of another day ; in 
the evening we, through the medium of my interpreter, 
talked together upon an amazing variety of subjects — 
Buddha and Christ, this world and the next, Paris, London, 
America. Duties in the monastery would prevent these 
new friends from coming on certain nights ; but they 
always forewarned me of their absence, never disturbing 

2 o 



2 9 o KOREA 

me at my work, never taking me by surprise. The sense 
of consideration and courtesy which their kindly hospitality 
displayed was manifested in countless ways. The small 
return which it was possible to make quite shamed me 
before them. Frequently, at midnight, when my lights 
were burning, the Abbot would walk across from his own 
apartments and force me to bed with many smiles and 
much gentle pressure, covering my manuscript with his 
hands and nodding towards my camp-bed. There was no 
screen to the front of my building, so it was always possible 
for them to observe the stranger within their gates. This 
inspection was most quietly carried on ; indeed, if I turned 
to the open courtyard, those who, perhaps, had been noting 
the structure of my camp-bed, or the contents of my valise, 
hanging to air upon a stout rope, flitted away like ghosts. 
I was left, as I wished, in peaceful contemplation of my 
work and the splendour of the scenery around me. 

Catering arrangements were quite simple during my 
stay in this monastery. Rice and eggs and fowls were 
procurable from the villages beyond the walls of the 
temple, and rice-flour or vegetables could be procured 
from the butterman of the monastery. It was my plan to 
take breakfast about ten o'clock in the morning, and to dine 
about six o'clock in the evening. Between these hours was 
my time for writing, and I was always fully occupied. 
Before breakfast I walked abroad or prepared my notes of 
the work for the day ; after dinner I received my callers, 
arranging anything of interest in my notes when they were 
gone. Usually I witnessed the midnight gathering of the 
monks, listening, with pleasure, to the booming of the 
great bell of the monastery and the accompanying peals of 
smaller bells of less melodious volume and much shriller 



292 KOREA 

tone. The vibration in the air, as these wonderful noises 
broke upon it, filled the high woods with melody and the 
deep valleys with haunted strains as of spirit-music. After 
the midnight mass, when the echoes had died away, the 
delight of the moment was supreme. In utter weariness 
and most absolute contentment I stretched myself to 
slumber beneath the protecting draperies of the mosquito- 
curtains, within the vaulted spaciousness of my Hall of 
Entertainment. 

Visitors to Chung-deung-sa were frequent during my 
stay, some attracted by the reported presence of a foreigner, 
others by their very genuine wish to sacrifice to the All- 
Blessed-One. Two Korean ladies of position arrived in the 
course of one morning to plead for the intercession of 
Buddha in their burden of domestic misery and unhappi- 
ness. Presenting the Korean equivalent for ten shillings to 
the funds of the monastery, they arranged with the Abbot 
for the celebration of a nocturnal mass in the Temple of 
the Great Heroes. During the afternoon the priests pre- 
pared the temple in which the celebration was to be held ; 
elaborate screens of Korean pictorial design were carried 
into the temple from the cell of the Chief Abbot ; large 
quantities of the finest rice were boiled. High, conical 
piles of sweetmeats and sacrificial cakes were placed in 
large copper dishes before the main altar, where the three 
figures of Buddha sat in their usual attitude of divine 
meditation. In front of each figure stood a carved, gilded 
tablet, twelve inches high, exactly opposite to which the 
food was placed, with bowls of burning incense at intervals 
between the dishes. Lighted candles, in long sticks, were 
placed at either end of the altar; above it, in the centre, 
serving as a lamp and hanging from a long gilded chain, 



MIDNIGHT MASSES 293 

was suspended a bowl of white jade, in which lay the 
smoking end of a lighted wick. Numerous side altars 
were similarly decorated. The furniture of the temple 
comprised a big drum, a heavy, cracked bell, cast in the 
thirteenth century, and a pair of cymbals. There were 
five monks; the two women sat, mute, upon the left of 
the Abbot. The four priests arranged themselves upon 
the right — one to the bell, one to the drum, and two to 
the pair of cymbals, in the playing of which they took 
turns. Upon each side of the temple, recessed right and 
left of the main altar, were mural representations of the 
Ten Judges. Save for the altar illuminations, the effect of 
which was to render the interior even gloomier and more 
eerie than usual, the building was in darkness. 

The service began with the customary calling for 
Buddha. The Abbot tapped upon a bamboo cane ; every 
one leant forward, their faces pressed down, and their 
foreheads resting upon the floor. The palms of their 
hands were extended beyond their heads in an attitude of 
reverence and humility. This prostration was accompanied 
by the intoning of a Thibetan chant, to the accompaniment 
of a brass gong, struck with a horn handle by the Abbot 
himself. Further prostrations followed upon the part of 
the entire assemblage, the women joining in this part of 
the service. For the most part they squatted silently and 
reverently in their corner of the temple. As the different 
services concluded the Abbot shifted the offerings before 
the main altar to their appointed stations before the smaller 
shrines, when the prayers proceeded afresh. Protracted 
overtures were made to the picture of the Ten Judges, 
before which the service apparently became fully choral. 
One priest danced amazing and grotesque steps, strangely 



294 KOREA 

reminiscent of a Kaffir war-dance, the sole of one foot 
striking the floor to the accompaniment of a clash of 
cymbals as the other leapt into the air. Another priest 
played upon the cracked bell, and a third kept up a dull, 
monotonous thumping on the drum. The sole idea of the 
priests, as conveyed to my mind by their celebration, 
seemed to be the breaking up of the solemn silence of 
the night by the most amazing medley of noises. At 
intervals, in the course of the unmusical colloquy between 
the drums, the cymbals, and the big bell, the monks 
chanted their dirges, which were, in turn, punctuated by 
the dislocated tapping of the Abbot's brass bell and 
wooden knocker. 

It was deafening, the most penetrating discord of which 
I have ever been the unfortunate auditor. With the con- 
clusion of the exercises upon the cymbals, which were 
beaten together in a wide, circular sweep of the arms, then 
tossed aloft, caught, and clanged together after the fashion 
of the South African native with his spear and shield, the 
performing priest returned to the companion who relieved 
him. His more immediate activities over, he stood aside 
laughing and talking with his colleagues in a voice which 
quite drowned the chants in which his companions were 
engaged. Then, panting with his late exertions, he pro- 
ceeded to fan himself with the most perfect unconcern, 
finally examining the hem of his jacket for lice; his search 
repaying him, he returned to his seat upon the floor and 
lifted up his voice with the others. After the sacrifices and 
prayers had been offered before the main altar and those 
upon the right and left, extra tables of fruit, apples, dates, 
nuts, cakes and incense, together with the previous dishes 
of rice, cakes, incense and bread, were spread before a 



MIDNIGHT MASSES 295 

small shrine placed in front of the screen. Rice was piled 
into a bowl, and, while the other monks were laughing and 
chattering among themselves in the temple itself during the 
progress of the sacrifice, the two women approached the 
shrine and made obeisance three times, then touching each 
dish w T ith their ringers, bowed again and retired to their 
corner. At the same time three priests, breaking from the 
group that were talking by the doors of the building, sat 
down in the centre of the temple upon their praying-mats, 
seven or eight feet from the shrine. While one chanted 
Korean prayers from a roll of paper, another struck and 
rang the brass bell repeatedly, and the third hammered the 
gong. Throughout this part of the service the others 
chatted volubly, until they, too, joined in a chorus and 
pasan of thanksgiving, breaking off from that to chant, in 
low, suppressed tones, a not unimpressive litany. 

Repetitions of the services I have described continued 
all night. Sometimes there was more noise, sometimes less, 
occasionally there was none, the tired, quavering voices of 
the sleepy priests tremulously chanting the requisite number 
of litanies. The women, who sat with wide-opened eyes, 
watched with interest and were satisfied. The priests seemed 
bored. Personally I was tired, dazed and stunned by the 
uproar. During the progress of this strange service, I w 7 as 
struck by the utter absence of that devotional fervour which 
was so characteristic of the priests in the principal monasteries 
of the Diamond Mountains. 

The ceremony presently shifted from the Temple of the 
Great Heroes to the spacious courtyard in front of it. 
Here, when numerous fires had been lighted, the Abbot 
and three priests, together with the two Korean women, 
moved in procession. Their march was accompanied by 



296 KOREA 

the striking of many gongs and bells. The monks offered 
prayers round heaps of pine branches, which had been 
thrown together and lighted at the different spots. Chants 
and prayers were repeated, and the same clashing of instru- 
ments went on as before. It was not until a heavy rain 
descended that the worshippers returned to the seclusion of 
the temple. I felt, somehow, quite grateful to that shower of 
rain. In the morning, my interpreter told me that this pro- 
gress in the courtyard formed a part of services which 
accompanied the offering of special prayers for rain. It 
would be a curious coincidence if this were so. Next day, 
at the hour of my breakfast, there was some desire to 
continue the celebration. My head was still aching with 
the jarring discord of the bells, gongs, and cymbals of the 
previous entertainment, and at the sight of the preparations 
my appetite vanished. Breakfast became impossible ; I 
relinquished it to pray for peace. Happily this blessing 
was granted me ; and it was decided to hold- no further 
service — the rain, I presume, having appeared — and to 
devour the sacrifices. All that day the monks and their 
two guests ate the offerings. It was therefore a day of 
undisturbed quiet, and as my prayer also had been granted, 
each w T as satisfied, and we were a happy family. 

My little holiday passed all too quickly. One day I 
found myself preparing very sorrowfully to return to Seoul. 
This accomplished, the news of my intended journey was 
quickly bruited abroad by my servants. During these days 
curio-dealers crowded the compound of the Station Hotel, 
where, made very comfortable by the kindly forethought of 
Mr. and Mrs. Emberley, I was still living. There is little 
enough to buy in Seoul : quaint, brass cooking-utensils ; 
iron, inlaid with silver ; tobacco boxes, jade cups, fans, 




? P 



2 9 8 KOREA 

screens, and scrohs. My purchases were few ; the native 
furniture, massive presses, and cabinets faced with copper 
plates, and small tea-tables, attracting me more than any- 
thing else. The Emperor had already sent a present of 
silk and fans to my hotel, and, with these few remaining 
articles, my stock of Korean relics was completed. The 
dealers were importunate, and crowded into the private 
apartments of the hotel like bleating sheep into a pen. 
Remonstrances were in vain, and 1 found the specific cure 
for their pestiferous attentions to be administered best in 
the shape of a little vigorous kicking. They took the cuffing 
with much good humour, and retired to the courtyard, 
where, at intervals in the day, a plaintive voice would be 
heard calling upon His Highness to inspect the treasures 
of his slave. His Highness, however, had concluded his 
inspection. 

The atmosphere in these hct days in Seoul was very 
bad ; the air was heavy with malodorous vapour ; the days 
were muggy and the nights damp. The steaming heat 
of the capital emphasised the wisdom of an immediate 
departure, and 1 hastened my exodus, touched up with a 
little ague and a troublesome throat. The endless business 
of obtaining servants, guides, and horses was repeated, 
until at last the day of my removal was arranged and the 
hour of actual departure fixed. The prospect was alluring — 
a journey from Seoul to Vladivostock, through a wild and 
desolate region, nearly eight hundred miles in length, lay 
before me. Much of it was unexplored. It was the chance 
of a lifetime, and, in thus embarking upon it, I was very 
happy. My last farewells were said ; my last calls had been 
paid — the kindly hospitality of Seoul is not forgotten. The 
day had come at last, the horses were pawing in the court- 



RIOTS AND CONFUSION 299 

yard. My effects, my guns, and camp-bed, my tent and 
stores, were packed and roped. The horses had been 
loaded ; the hotel account had been settled, when my 
interpreter quietly told me that my servants had struck for 
ten dollars Mexican — one sovereign — monthly increase in 
the wages of each. Mr. Emberley stood out against the 
transaction ; I offered to compound with half ; they were 
obdurate. It seemed to me that a crisis was impending. 
I was too tired and too cross to remonstrate. I raised my 
offer to eight dollars ; it was refused — the servants were 
dismissed. Uproar broke out in the courtyard, which 
Mr. Emberley pacified by inducing the boys to accept my 
last offer — a rise of eight dollars Mexican. My head- 
servant, the brother of my interpreter, repudiated the 
arrangement, but the significance of this increase had 
assumed great importance. It was necessary to be firm. 
I think now that it was unwise to have entertained any 
change at all in the standard of payment. Upon the 
question of the additional two dollars I stood firm ; nothing 
more would be given. The interpreter approached me to 
intimate that if his brother did not go he also would stay 
behind. I looked at him for a moment, at last under- 
standing the plot, and struck him. He ran into the court- 
yard and yelled that he was dead — that he had been 
murdered. The grooms in charge of the horses gathered 
round him with loud cries of sympathy. Mr. Emberley 
called them to him and explained the position of affairs. I 
strode into the compound. The head groom came up to 
me, demanding an increase of thirty dollars, Korean 
currency, upon the terms which he had already accepted ; 
he wanted, further, three-quarters of the contract price to be 
paid in advance ; one quarter was the original stipulation. 



3oo KOREA 

I refused the thirty dollars, and thrashed him with my 
whip. 

The end of my journey for the moment had come, with 
a vengeance. The head groom stormed and cursed and 
ran raving in and out of the crowd. He then came for me 
with a huge boulder, and, as I let out upon his temple, the 
riot began. My baggage was thrown off the horses and 
stones flew through the air. I hit and slashed at my 
assailants and for a few minutes became the centre of a 
very nasty situation. Servants and grooms, my interpreter, 
and a few of the spectators went at it keenly while the fight 
continued. In the end, Mr. Emberley cleared his courtyard 
and recovered my kit ; but I was cut a little upon the head 
and my right hand showed a compound fracture — native 
heads are bad things to hammer. Postponement was now 
more than ever essential ; my fears about my health were 
realised. By nightfall upon the day of this outbreak signs 
of sickness had developed ; the pain had increased in my 
hand and arm ; my head was aching ; my throat was in- 
flamed. I was advised to leave at once for Japan ; upon 
the next day I sailed, proposing to go to Yokohama and 
thence to Vladivostock, starting the expedition from the 
Russian fortress. However, by the time my steamer 
arrived at Japan, I was in the clutch of enteric fever. 
Further travel was out of the question, and when they 
moved me from an hotel in Yokohama to a cabin upon 
a Japanese steamer, which was to carry me to England, 
in my mind I had bidden farewell to the countries of this 
world, for the doctor told me that I was dying. 



APPENDIX I 

SCHEDULE OF TRAIN SERVICE 
Leave Day Arrive 

Port Arthur / T ^d * y 1 Moscow 

Dalny [Thursday] I3 days ' 2 llours ' 42 minutes 

Through trains from Moscow arrive at Dalny and Port Arthur on 
Wednesdays and Saturdays. 

The train comprises first- and second-class cars and dining-car. 

The cost of the journey is almost prohibitive if compared with 
ocean steamer charges. 

The train service is very unreliable and subject to many in- 
terruptions. 

The steamers of the Chinese Eastern Railway Company are 
scheduled to make the connection with Korea upon arrival of the 
train. Time required, from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. 

The estimate of the length of time occupied by the journey between 
Korea and Japan upon the completion of the Seoul-Fusan Railway 
is forty-four hours. 

Chemulpo or Seoul to Fusan . . .10 hours 
Fusan to Moji by sea . . . . . 4 „ 

Moji to Kobe 15 „ 

Kobe to Tokio . . . . . . 15 „ 



302 



KOREA 



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APPENDIX 



303 





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bx 




British 

Korean 

Chinese 

French 

German 

Italian 

Japanese . 

Norwegian 

Russian 

United States 

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KOREA 



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APPENDIX 



305 



APPENDIX III 

RETURN OF PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF EXPORT TO FOREIGN 
COUNTRIES FROM THE OPEN PORTS OF KOREA DURING 
THE YEARS 1901-1902. 







1902 


1901 


Average, 


Articles 












Five Years, 














Quantity 


Value 


Quantity 


Value 


1898-1002 








£ 




£ 


£ 


Barley . 


Lbs. 


359,600 


395 


100,133 


in 


1 165 


Beans, all kinds 


,, 


107,887,600 


186,293 


114,273,600 


i94,"5 


185,839 


Beche-de-mer . 




312.666 


65-7 


447,466 


6820 


7199 


Cattle, and live-stock 


Head '. 


655? 


19.383 


13,611 


17,288 


n,5H* 


Copper . 


Lfc. 


264,400 


4041 


3oo,533 


6448 




Fish, dried, salt and 














manure . 


,, 


4,909,600 


8418 


7,645,066 


14,814 


11,782 


Ginseng, red 


,, «~ 


85,201 


122,304 


24,575 


25,67° 


77,386+ 


,, white . 


>) 


3333 


213 


16 


121 


109 


Gold ore . 


— 


— 


5409 


— 


7205 


— t 


Hides . 


Lbs. 


3,981,600 


70,815 


3,500,400 


66,396 


53,652 


Millet . 


,, 


213.333 


309 


439,866 


437 


1539 


Nutgalls . 


,, 


67,866 


875 


99,866 


1308 


1866 


Paper . 


,, 


173,066 


3164 


133,200 


2575 


3161 


Rice 


,, 


126,401,066 


359i8o 4 


184,566,266 


427,459 


314,081 


Seaweed . 


,, 


2,596,666 


9354 


3,027,600 


9118 


8744 


Skins of all kinds 


Pieces . 


29,660 


2239 


21,077 


1392 


2039 


Tallow . 


Lbs. 


421,466 


3015 


306,266 


2185 


1055 


Whaleflesh and blubber . 


— 


— - 


4737 


— 


22,858 


11,410 


Wheat . 


Lbs. 


ii.75i,333 


18,022 


2,787,866 


3682 


9523 


Other exports . 
Total . 


- 


— 


20,727 


— 


26,822 


44,641 


— 


846,034 


- 


836,824 


746,705 



* Large rise in price owing to increased demand at Vladivostock and elsewhere. 

t No returns for 1898. 

I To China by Korean Government. 



2 Q 



306 



KOREA 



APPENDIX IV 

RETURN OF PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF IMPORTS TO FOREIGN 
COUNTRIES DURING THE YEARS 1901-1902. 







1 902 


190 


1 


Average 


Articles 












Five Years, 
1 898-1902 




Quantity 


Value 


Quantity 


Value 


Cotton goods — 






£ 




£ 


£ 


Shirtings, grey and white — 














British .... 


Pieces 


389=73° 


172.515 


402,156 


176,892 


159,763 


Japanese 




18,926 


3934 


19,236 


3933 


2328 


T-cloths . . . . 




18,771 


4169 


29,798 


6782 


4400 


Drills- 


" 












British and American 




20,045 


9274 


34,970 


16,250 


9546 


Japanese .... 




2032 


1036 


919 


188 


298 


Turkey-red cloths 


" 












British .... 




6 '57 


1873 


6815 


1928 


1934 


Japanese .... 


" 


9763 


1539 


10,274 


1904 


1726 


Lawns and muslins 




i°°.5i3 


10,13. 


95,460 


975o 


12,915 


Leilas . 




33,602 


8797 


38,897 


10,296 


9062 


Sheetings — 


" 












British and American 




154,282 


57-342 


189 554 


80,177 


60,164 


Japanese .... 




173.907 


72,098 


171,235 


72,303 


52,961 


Cotton reps .... 




21,094 


9461 


28,412 


14,^98 


7707 


Japanese piece-goods . 




658,462 


65,407 


909,811 


88.069 


75,405 


Piece-goods, 1 on-Japanese 


'. 


39>356 


3054 


39,^99 


3517 


8600 


Yarn — 














British and Indian . 


Lbs. 


m,333 


39 2 3 


120,933 


4T93 


5641 


Japanese .... 




4,154,533 


98,933 


5,028,800 


119,781 


105,454 


Chinese . . . . 




— 




4 


T2 


— 


Other cottons 

Total . 

Woollen goods . 

Miscellaneous piece-goods . 

Metals . 

Sundries — 

Arms, accoutrements, and 


- 


— 


23,282 




33,235 


42,003 


— 


546,772 


- 


643,808 


559,919 


— 


7846 


- 


16,6.8 


8235 


- 


1701 


- 


1645 


1148 


- 


59,266 


- 


74,156 


54,218 














ammunition 


_ 


— 


9556 





38,606 


!7.979 


Bags and ropes for packing . 


— 


— 


31,408 


— 


28.464 


25,01 1 


Clothing and haberdashery . 





— 


*i,9i8 





17,916 


14,260 


Cotton — 














Raw . 


Lbs. 


239,066 


3806 


447,866 


7883 


5244 


Wadding .... 


,, 


652,606 


12,340 


088,533 


14,650 


*4,59 6 


Dyes 


„ 


259,333 


8361 


327,466 


13,791 


8814 


Flour 


,, 


1 937,066 


7433 


1,899,066 


7860 


6724 


Grain and pulse . 


,, 


3,998,266 


9337 


3,110,133 


6348 


14.495 


Grass-cloth .... 


— 


— 


57,3'o 




53,979 


46,823 


Machinery . 


— 


— 


14,608 


— 


12,546 


88.6 


Matches . 


Gross 


576,629 


18,110 


562,338 


!7,747 


15, 99 1 


Mining supplies . 
Kerosene oil — 


— 


— 


46,659 


~~ 


39,267 


28,859 


American 


Gallons . 


3,461,980 


77.98S 


2,463,631 


62,833 


55,69i* 


Japanese .... 


>> 


760 


r 7 


19,260 


530 


1873 


Paper 


Lbs. 


878,666 


7654 


9oi,733 


8033 


6475 


Provisions . . . . 
Railway plant and material 







i9>i54 
46,112 


= 


19,359 
27,963 


15,695 
33,8i6 


Rice 


Lbs. 


11,447,466 


40.675 


10,963,200 


40.924 


24,348t 


Sake and samshu 


— 


— 


»5 924 


— 


14,228 


13,247 


Salt 


Lbs. 


i7,49i,733 


7998 


28,845,200 


-3,879 


13,031 


Silk piece-goods . 


— 


— 


86,444 


— 


125,381 


81,911 


Sugar . . . . 


Lbs. 


2,501,600 


1 5 039 


!, 992,933 


12,588 


10,984 


Tobacco, cigars, and ciga- 














rettes . 


— 


— ■ 


20,273 





17.425 


14,576 


Other sundries . 
Total . 
Grand total . 


- 


- 


188,642 


— 


i6r,8 3 8 


135, 9 [ ° 


766,766 


- 


764,038 


615.169 


1,382,351 


— 


1,500,265 


1,238,689 


Highest on record. 


Large dir 


ect import in 


sailing-ves 


;els from Ami 


;rica. 





t Large quantity imported from Saigon by Government to relieve national distress. 



APPENDIX 



307 



APPENDIX V 

COAST TRADE BETWEEN TREATY PORTS IN NATIVE 
PRODUCE (NET) 



Port 


1902 


1901 


Imports 


Exports 


Imports 


Exports 




Yen 


Yen 


Yen 


Yen 


Chemulpo 


2,517,819 


91,443 


1,991,757 98,364 


Fusan . 


443,235 


587,513 


455,256 445,963 


Won-san 


514,936 


573,025 


306,909 626,965 


Chin-am-po . 


83,805 


803,828 


34,662 708,561 


Mok-po. 


105,577 


8i7,359 


104,926 


456,632 


Kun-san 


7^,691 


527,187 


57, J 22 


472,850 


Ma-sam-po . 


10,896 


191,547 


15,173 


110,968 


Syong-chin . 
Total 

„ coast trade * 


94,997 


84,892 


78,439 


74,829 


3,844,956 


3,676,794 


3,044,244 


2,995,132 


7,52] 


,750 


6,039,376 



Increasing annually with greater transport facilities. 

APPENDIX VI 

CUSTOMS REVENUE 



Year 


Amount 


Exchange 


Currency 


Sterling 


1902 .... 
1901 .... 
1900 .... 
1899 .... 
1898 .... 

Average, five years . 


Yen 

1,204,776 

i,325,4 x 4 
1,097,095 

902,955 
1,000,451 


£ 

122,783 

135,303 

109,710 

90,296 

101,087 


5. d. 

2 O.j 
2 Oh 
2 O 
2 O 
2 Oi 


— ' 


111,836 


— 



3 o8 



KOREA 



APPENDIX VII 

GOLD EXPORT TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES 



Year 


Amount 


Currency 


Sterling 


Exchange 


1902 

1901 

1900 . . . 

1899 ....... 

1898 


Yen 
5,064,106 

4,993,351 
3,633,050 
2,933,382 
2,375,725 


£ 

516,961 

509,738 
363,305 
293,338 
240,047 


s. d. 
2 Ol 
2 o| 
2 O 
2 O 
2 0^ 



From 


Value 


1902 


1901 


1900 


Chemulpo .... 

Fusan 

Won-san .... 

Chin-am-po 

Mok-po . . . 


Yen 

2,538,101 

104,915 

1,361,580 

1,053,800 

5,7iO 


Yen 
2,556,095 

122,968 
1,668,245 

646,043 


Yen 
1,927,665 

121,809 
1,425,576 

158,000 


5,064,106 


4,993,351 


3,633,050 



To 


Value 


1902 


1901 


1900 


China .... 
Japan .... 

Total .... 


Yen 
59,8o5 
5,004,300 


Yen 
136,150 

4,857,201 


Yen 
567,670 
3,065,380 


5,064,106 


4,993,351 


3,633,050 



Exchange sterling, 2s. old. — 2s. odl. — 2s. od. 



APPENDIX 



309 



APPENDIX VIII 



TABLE OF MINERALS 



Gold. 
Ham-kyong. 
Pyong-an. 
Hwang-hai. 
Kyong-keui. 
Kang-won. 
Chyung-chyong. 
Chyol-la. 
Kyong-syang. 

Silver. 
Ham-kyong. 

Silver and Lead. 
Ham-kyong. 
Kang-won. 
Kyong keui. 
Chyung-chyong. 
Kyong-syang. 
Chyol-la. 
Pyong-an. 



Tin. 



Chyol-la. 



Iron Ores, Magnetite and 
Limonite. 

Ham-kyong. 

Hwang-hai. 

Kyong-keui. 

Chyung-chyong. 

Chyol-la. 

Kyong-syang. 

Mercury. 

Kyong-syang. 
Ham-kyong. 

Mangan. 
Kyong-syang. 

Coal. 

Pyong-an. 

Kyong-syang. 

Ham-kyong. 

Kyong-keui. 

Kang-won. 



The preceding minerals are yielded by the different provinces. 



INDEX 



A Tai-cho, 175 

Agriculture Department, expenditure 
of, 98, 100 

Allen, Dr., 155 

America : 

Interests in Korea, 154-156 
Trade with Korea, 139, 144, 146, 

147 
Am-nok River, see Ya-lu 
An-ak, 164 

An-man-chai Pass, 233 
An-tung, 29, 193, 2o6n 
An-yang, 158 
A-o-ya Pass, 164 

Banks : 

Dai Ichi Ginko, 28, 103-105 

Russo-Chinese, 28, 194 
Bauer Herr, 218, 220 
Belgian interests in Korea, 166-167 
Bojisco, 202 
Bourdaret, M., 162 
Boxer disturbances, 138, 146 
Broughton, Captain W. R., 5, 171 
Broughton Bay, 6, 171-172 
Brown, J. McLeavy : 

Sketch of, 81-87; Work of, 20, 
32, 154 ; Yi Yong-ik, Relations 
with, 60-61, 87 
Bruce, Admiral, 86 
Briinner, M. , 201 

Buddhism, 231, 235-240, 263, 288, 
292-296 

Cazalis, M,, 90-91 
Chang-dan, 164 
Chang-ot, the, 38, 44 
Chemulpo, 11, 29, 30, 32, 104, 141, 
166, 182, 264 ; Description of, 15-23 
Chi-fu, 32, 140 
Chik-san, 161 



China : 

Conservatism of, 10-12, 114 

Korea : Early Relations with, 

10, 129-130 ; Settlements in, 

16-18, 108-110; Trade with, 

126, 141 

Chin-am-po, description of, 182, 

185-187, 188 
Chin-eui, 158 
Ching-kai-wan (Shin-hai, or Chin- 

hai), 200 
Chino-Japanese War, reference to, 

10, 29, 31, 136 
Chin-san, 159 
Cho Pyong-sik, 104 
Cho Sung-hyup, 202 
Cho-san, 204 
Christianity, 261-269 
Chim-kok, 124 
Chyang-pyong, 159 
Chyok-syong, description of, 214 
Chyol-la, 124, 158, 179, 182 
Chyon-eui, 158 
Chyung-chyong, 4, 6, 125, 158, 161, 

182 
Chyu-pung Pass, 159 
Clemencet, M. E., 31 
Communications Department, expen- 
diture of, 98 
Companies : 

American, 19, 154 

English, 15 1 -152 

French, 89, 161 

Russian, 192, 200 seq 
Concubinage, laws relating to, 113- 

114 
Confucianism, 238-240, 263 
Cooke, Miss, 154, 166 
Corfe, Bishop, 154, 264 
Corruption, Government, 105-107 
Cotton trade, 138-139 
Currency, debased, 92-3, 101-103 



3 I2 



KOREA 



Customs, Imperial Korean Maritime : 
Establishment of, 20-21 
Hypothecation of, 60-61, 89-93 
Mr. McLeavy Brown, Chief 

Commissioner of, 81-89 
Revenue from, 307 

Dalny, 19 

de Lapeyriere, M., 162 

de Plancy, Colin, 90, 94, 161, 162, 183 

de Speyer, M., 94 

Dress, Seoul, in, 35-40 

Drought, effects of, 253-257 

Dugelet, 7 

Dun River, 171 

Durock, 7 

Education Department, expenditure 

of, 98, 100 
Education in Korea, 27-8, 65, 108- 

iii 
Emberley, Mr., 152, 296, 299 
Emperor of Korea, the : 
Character of, 62-69 
Mr. McLeavy Brown, attitude 

towards, 87-89 
Power of, 59, 114-115 
Religion of, 239 
England, see Great Britain 
Eun-san, 187, 217 

Farming, methods of, 120-123 
Finance Department, expenditure of, 

98, 100 
Food-stuffs in Korea, character of, 

124-127 
Foreign Department, expenditure of, 

98, 100 
Forest Concession, the, 201 seq 
France : 

Interests of, in Korea, 161-166 
Policy of, in Korea, 61, 91-92, 
95-6, 183-4 
Fusan, 16, 30, 32, 104, 141 ; Early 

Japanese incursions into, 129-132 ; 

Description of, 176-178 
Fusan, Old, 159, 176-177 

Germany : 

Interests of, in Korea, 166 
Trade with Korea, 146, 147 

Gisaing, 52 seq 

Gold, export returns, 308 
Mining, 217-220 

Government corruption, 105-107 

Great Britain : 

Interests of, in Korea, 149-154 
Policy of, in Korea, 91, 95-96, 



Great Britain {continued) : 
Settlement in Korea, 18 
Trade in the East, lack of enter- 
prise, 141-147 

Gubbins, J. G., 87, 88, 90, 95 

Hai-chu, 164 

Hai-yong River, 226 

Hall, Basil, 6 

Ham-kyong, 9, 126, 175, 176, 189 

Han River, 21, 163, 164, 280-283 

Han-chu, 163 

Han-ju, 164 

Ha-ram, 123 

Hart, Sir Robert, 20, 81 

Hayashi, Mr., 205 

Hermit Kingdom, the, 41, 43 

Hideyoshi, 49, 285 

Home Department, expenditure, 98, 

99 
Hulbert, Prof. H. B., 108 
Hwang-hai, 125 
Hyon-pung, 159 
Im-chin River, 163, 164 
Im-myung, 190 
Industries : 

Domestic, 117 seq, 121-123, 180- 
181 

Fishing and fish-drying, 247-249 

Mining, 217-220 

Salt making from sea-water, 249 
Irrigation, 122 
Island, Round, 21 
Roze, 21 

Japan : 

Dai Ichi Ginko instituted, 103-105 
Early relations between Korea 

and, 1, 4, 49, 128-134 
Foreign goods counterfeited by, 

167-169 
Interests of, in Korea, 156-161, 

172-173 
Korean currency, action regard- 
ing, 102-103 
Policy of, in Korea, 134-137 
Russia, attitude towards, 194-200 
Settlements in Korea, 16-18, 136- 

137, 160-161 
Trade with Korea, 138-139, 141, 
144, 146 
Jordan, Mr. 152, 184 

Kak-kot-chi, 286 
Kak-pi Pass, 228 
Kal-kan-i, 228 
Kang, Eady, 68 
Kang-kyoi, 216 
Kang-kyong, 158 



INDEX 



3 1 ! 



Kang-song, 286 

Kang-wha, 284-296 

Kang-won, 8, 125, 126, 175, 176 

Kap-san, 216 

Keu-chai, 198 

Keum Rivei, 158, 182 

Keum-kang-san, 227, 229, 232 

Keum-san, 159 

Ki-ja, 123 

Kim Yueng-lehun, 68 

Knochenhauer, 217 

Kobe, 32 

Ko-chong, 286 

Kong-chyu, 158 

Konishi, 132 

Korea : 

Character of people, 117-120, 222; 
Court of, 55 seq., 70-80 ; Cus- 
toms and dress of the people, 
35-41 ; Dancing, 56-58 ; Deve- 
lopment and progress of, 10-15 I 
Disease in, 259-260 ; Early ex- 
plorers of, 2-7 : Filth of people, 
249-250 ; Food, 126-127 ; Geo- 
graphy of, 1-10, 13-14, 143 ; 
Government, 10-11, 96, 105, 
114-116 ; Hunting in, 222-226 ; 
Language of, 108 -no : Origin 
of people, 41-42 ; Postal system, 
30-32 ; Slavery in, 49-52 Super- 
stition, 7-10, 251-252, 256-257 ; 
Telegraphiccommunication,26, 
28-30 : Trade and shipping, 20- 
23, 138-147, 302-306 ; Travel- 
ling in, 270-280 
American interests in, 154-156 
Belgian interests in, 166-167 
British interests in, 149-154 ; 
Policy in, 91, 95, 184; Settle- 
ments in, 18 
China and, early relations be- 
tween, 10, 129-130 ; Influence 
of, in, 42 ; Settlements in, 16- 
18 ; Trade between, 141 
French influence in, 61 : interests 
in, 161-166 ; Policy in, 91-92, 
95, 183-184 
German interests in, ic"6 
Japanese, incursions and early 
relations with, 49, 128-134 5 
Influence, 134-137 ; Interests in, 
156-161, 172-173 ; Policy in, 
134-135 ; Settlements in, 1618, 
136-137, 160-161 
Russian influence in, 61 ; Interests 
in, 171, 172, 192-206; Policy in, 
91, 94, 183-184 

Ko-ryo, 175 

Ko-yang, 164 



Kumungo, the, in 

Kun-san, description of, 182, 188-189 

Kuroda, 132 

Kwi-po, 159 

Kyong-keui, 125, 158 

Kyong-syang, 124, 126, 158 

Kyo-wha, 164 

La Perouse, 7 

Law Department, expenditure, 98, 100 
Law, marriage and divorce, of, 112- 
114 

Penal, 111-112 
Lazareli, 7 
Lefevre, M. G., 162 
Li Hung Chang, 201 
Liao-tung Gulf, 129 

Peninsula, 195 
Lyne Sound, 179 

Ma-eum-to Island, 288 

Manchuria, Russian policy towards, 
195, 196, 205 

Man-sak-dong, 16 

Man-san-po, 192, 196-200 

Matunine, M., 94 

Min Yeung-ik, 61 

Minerals, Korean, 14, 165, 187, 189, 
217-220 
Table of, 309 

Mines, British, 217 
German, 217 seq 

Mining, Korean methods of, 219-220 

Missionaries: American, 265-267; 
Church of England, 264-265, 288 ; 
French, 261-264 

Mok-po, 32, 104, 158, 264 ; Descrip- 
tion of, 1 78-181 

Monasteries : Chang-an-sa, 226, 229- 
230, 233, 234, 243, 244-246 ; Chung- 
deung, 288 ; Kang-wha, 287-288, 
289-296 ; Mun-su-sa, 288 ; Pyo-un, 
229 ; Shin-ki-sa, 241-242 ; Sin-ga, 
229 ; Sok-wan, 175 ; Yu-chom-sa, 
229, 232-237, 241, 246-247 

Mountains : Diamond, 8, 170 seq, 226 
seq, 242 ; Korean, description of, 
13-14 ; Nam-san, 25 ; Peuk-an, 25 ; 
Superstitions regarding, 8-10 

Mukden, 193 

Mum-sa-am, 243 

Mun-chyon, 159 

Mun-san-po, 164 

Mun-su, hill of, 287 

Nagasaki, 28, 32 
Nageum, the, in 
Nak-tong River, 159 
Nam-pu, 200 

2 R 



3M 



KOREA 



Newchang, 138 
No-dol, 158 

Om, Lady, 61, 65-69, 87, 239 
On-mun, 109, no 
On-yang, 158 
Oppert, 6 
O-san-tong, 158 

Paik-tu-san, 13 

Pavloff, M., 94, 183, 193, 198 

Pedlars' Guild, 105 

Pellisier, 7 

Police Department, expenditure of, 

98, 100 
Po-mun-sa, 288 
Ponies, Korean, 271-273 
Po-pheung, King, 229 
Po-ri, 125 
Port Arthur, 19, 32, 171, 172, 196 

Hamilton, 200-201 

Lazareff, 171 
Postal Union, 30, 31 
Prince Jerome's Gulf, 6 
Productions, farm, 122-127, 143 
Pu-ti-chong Pass, 233, 234 
Pyok-tong, 204 

Pyong-an, 125, 126, 175, 176, 217 
Pyong-tak, 158 

Pyong-yang, 29, 132, 155, 162, 164 ; 
Description of, 182, 185, 187-188 

quelpart, 2, 6, 124, 267 

Railways : 

Seoul-Chemulpo, 156, 157, 1.58 ; 
Seoul-Fusan, 19, 156-160, 177 ; 
Trans-Siberian, 19, 163, 171 

Rainfall, 257-259 

Revenue, sources of, 96-101, 307 

Rice crop, importance of, 153-154 

Russia : 

Interests in Korea, 171, J72, 
192-206 ; Japan, attitude to- 
wards, 194-200; Policy in 
Korea, 61, 91, 94-96, 183-184 ; 
Policy in Manchuria, 195, 196 ; 
Yong-an-po, appropriation of, 
201-206 

Ru-yong-san River, 179 

Ryang-san, 159 

Ryong-san, 159 

Ryon-san, 159 

Sang-no, the, 49-50 
Schwartz, 7 

Seoul, 16, 103, 104, 141, 264 ; Descrip- 
tion of, 24-42 
Shamanism, 238 



Shang-hai, 31, 32, 140, 142 

Shantung, 18, 129 

Shibusawa, Baron, 103 

Shimonosaki, 10 

Shipping, Chemulpo, 19-23 ; Sche- 
duled returns of, 302-304 

Sho-ho, see An-tung 

Shufeldt, Admiral, 16 

Si-heung, 158 

Sin-chyon, 164 

Sin-gyo, 158 

Slavery, Korean, 49-52 

Son-dol-mok Rapids, 286 

Song-do, 163, 163 

Steamship Companies : Nippon Yusen 
Kaisha, 32, 142 ; Osaka Shosen 
Kaisha, 32, 142-3 

Suk-chong, 286 

Syn-won, 158 

Syok-kyo-chyon, 159 

Syon-chyon-po, 184-185, 187 

Syong-chik, 247 

Syong-chin, 182 

Ta-bak Mountains, 167 

Ta-dong River, 185-186 

Tai Won Kun, 65 

Tai-hoang-kyo, 158 

Tai-ku, 159 

Taku, 32 

Tan-bal-yang Pass, 226 

Tafi-kok, 124 

Taxation, 96-97 

Teh-chang-chin, 216 

Temples, Buddhist, 235, 236, 288, 
292-295 

Tiger, the Korean, 224 

Tokio, 19 

Tong-ko-kai, 166, 207, 217 seq. 

Tong-lai, 159 

Trade : 

Chemulpo, of 20-23 ; Exports 
and imports, value of, 21-23; 
Scheduled return of articles, 
305-306 : Native produce, sche- 
duled return of, 307 

Train service, schedule of, 301 

Trollope, Rev. Mark Napier, 288 

Tsu-shima, 29, 131 

Tumen River, 201, 106 

Tun-po, 158 

Ul-lyang, 201 

Unkoffsky, 7 

Un-san, 155, 156, 187, 217 

Vladivostock, 32, 142, 171, 172, 193, 
196 



INDEX 



3'5 



Wai-koan, 159 

War Department, expenditure of, 98, 

100 
Washington Gulf, 179 
Wei-hai-wei, British demonstration 

at, 61 
Wha-ding, 250 
Whan-gan, 159 
Wi-ju, 13, 29, 161, 163, 193, 202 ; 

Description and opening of, 183-184 
Women, Korean : 

Character of, 48 : Condition of, 
4 T > 43-58 : Education of, 108- 
iii 
Won-san, 30, 32, 141, 142, 143, 193 : 

Description of, 170-176 

Ya-lu River, 161, 201. 206 n 
Yam en, 117, 118, 249 



Yang River, 159 

Yang-san, 159 

Yang-tse, 145 

Yang-wha-chin, 164 

Yi-cha-sun, 54 

Yi-yong-ik : 

Character of, 62 ; Customs loan, 
attitude regarding, 90 ; Dai 
Ichi Ginko, opposition to, 
104-105; Mr. McLeavy-Brown, 
relations with, 60-61, 87 ; 
Transactions of, 106-107 

Yokohama, 142 

Yong-an-po, 183, 184 ; Russian appro- 
priation of, 193, 201-206 

Yong-chyon, 202, 204, 206 

Yong-dong, 159 

Yong-san, 158 

Yong-tong-po, 156, 158 



Printed by Eallantvne, Hanson &* Co. 
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